History Tends to Repeat Itself
by Foxtails0
Summary: This is the sequel to my other fanfic, How My Personal World Imploded. This features a son of Zeus and focuses on the second Great Prophecy, as if TLH never happened. Rated T for minor language and violence. R&R, it makes my day :D
1. Prologue

**A/N: Warning. This is a sequel to my other fanfic, How My Personal World Imploded. If you want to continue, please read the prequel, which can be found at my profile, because I tried posting the link and it didn't all show up.**

** Now that we've weeded out those who haven't read Katy's little tale, let's get down to business. Part 1 of this prologue is in the point of view of Bunny Parker, who, as you know, is a thirty-two year old woman who took part in the last story. Part 2 is from a third person point of view, but the rest of the story will be in the POV of Nick whose last name I'm brainstorming right now. My original ideas, Nick Ke$ha and Nick Cullen, have been shot down. Nick Abel, Lerman, Jackson, and Daddario have been rejected as well. After Nick Astley, Nick Norris, Nick Adcock, Nick Abercrombie, Nick Fitch, Nick Hollister, and Nick Odair (shut up, Freddy, Finnick does not look like Efron) I have finally settled on Nick Acres. It sounds nice, doesn't it?**

** Okay, so you remember how I said "let's get down to business" and then blathered on for a year? Well, let's get back down to business. This is set at the end of June and therefore school, a little more than six months after How My Personal World yadda yadda yadda. Um, I think that's all of it, right?**

** And… IT BEGINS!**

** Prologue – Part 1**

Hiya. I'm Bunny Parker. You know me, you've gotta.

I've lived a long life for a half-blood. In that long life, I've learned a few things.

First thing I've learned is that the history tends to repeat itself. Who brought down Ouranos? His son, Kronos. Who brought down Kronos? His son, Zeus. Well, and Percy, or Luke, or Annabeth, or whatever you want to say. (Personally I think Nico and Hades saved the day, but hey.) Kind of sexist, how the sons are always bringing their dad's down. It's about time a girl ruled the world, isn't it?

Life is, from an immortal's point of view, kind of boring. The gods watch us humans make a mess of everything day after day, year after year, century after century. But then we tend to pick ourselves back up and really get going, and then when we least expect it, poof. We're dead again, and the gods laugh. This is just a theory, but I'm sure Nemesis has something to do with that.

They say that geniuses are madmen. My history teacher told me that, a bazillion years ago, when I was still in school. Geniuses see the world in a different way than we do, and that drives them nuts, or something. Well let me tell you something I didn't need to be told, and learned from experience: Power corrupts. You could have an extraordinary person, a great role model, mature, clever, and strong, but put him or her in a place of power and it'll kill 'em. Like when Thalia had the option to bring down Olympus – the decision nearly corrupted her judgment. That whole paragraph was kind of random, but I've been waiting a long time to share that knowledge. Hades is a really bad listener.

Second thing I know is that the hero doesn't always win. Ever heard the phrase "Only the good die young"? Sometimes evil wins. It kind of sucks. I grew up being the wistful, preoccupied little girl in the Hermes cabin. I read fairy tales, love stories, anything that had a happy ending. Well, Luke's ending wasn't too happy, was it?

Lastly, I learned that even if a hero wins, sometimes he/she loses something, too. Or they die. When Annabeth and Percy won the whole Titan War thinga-mc-bobber, they lost Luke, didn't they? It's sad. Losing a love to something like that. Poor Annabeth. My other examples are Luke and Nico. Luke was a hero, or at least that's what everyone else says, but he died anyway. And Silena, Beckendorf, Michael Yew, Ethan Nakawhatsit – they all died. Poor Nico probably had some sort of slow, torturous death, and then it was straight to Tartarus with him.

Basically, what I'm trying to get across is this: Sometimes, the hero doesn't get his/her happily ever after.

And _damn, _I wish I'd had the sense to tell Nick that before all this.

**Part 2 **

It was dark. In the woods of Camp Half-Blood, two girls met up under the cover of the trees, hidden by the shadows. A river ran smoothly just beside them, its gurgling successfully hiding the girls' voices. They were an unlikely alliance, considering all their differences. But hey, when push comes to shove….

"You swear you'll protect him." It wasn't a question, just a confirmation.

"Yes." The second girl's grim, determined expression and sharp nod made the first girl a little more confident, and her shoulders relaxed.

"Blood oath, then?" The first girl's devilish grin was lit up by the moon.

"What the heck is that?"

"Well, I have my own way of doing it. It's like a spit shake, but with blood."

"Ew, no way! Are you crazy?"

"Stop being a sissy. It's just a little blood. Do you really mean it or not?"

The second girl hesitated, then cringed and held out her palm. "You suck."

The first girl smiled again and sliced her friend's palm, just a little, then slashed her own. "Didn't even hurt. C'mon, shake." She grabbed hold of the other girl's hand and shook it vigorously, their blood mingling.

The second girl pulled her hand away and gagged at her bloody palm. "Oh, that is so gross. Why does it bleed so much?"

"It's only blood." Then she grinned. "An oath to keep with final breath, eh?"

The second girl looked confused for a second, but then laughed as she recognized the words. "Oh, we've really stepped in it now."


	2. And Then She'll Kill You

**A/N: I have been defeated. Somebody had some idea that Finnick looked like Zac Efron, and so his actor representation looks like Efron. **

** Anyway… yeah. I want guesses and predictions throughout the stories, it's really interesting to hear what you guys think. And I want to know whether or not something I'm hiding is obvious, or vice versa: too obscure.**

** Penelope's called Penn with two n's because Penn originated from Penny which came from Penelope, and she lives in Pennsylvania, so.**

** CHANGE OF PLANS! There will MOST LIKELY be a new POV, when I get to her. She's [insert name when I decide on it], daughter of [I'm already copying Jason so I'm trying to find an alternative to Hephaestus… I will probably fail though.] I can't give Hestia kids; that would be bizarre. Stupid virgin goddesses.**

**Nick POV**

-About 12 hours earlier-

"NICK! NICKY! NICKFACE! NICKSTAR!"

I, because I am blessed by all the gods, was aroused from my precious, rare slumber by a persistent, harsh knocking at the door to the Zeus cabin.

"NICK!"

The knocker, by the way, was my half-sister, Penelope Goode. It was June 22nd and she's not a year-rounder, so she'd just been let out of school.

I opened the door, yawned, and Penelope almost fell in. She dusted herself off and took off her hat.

"No Ker today, Nicky? Funny, she's always here before me."

"I'm here, I'm here." A miserable-looking Ker stepped across the threshold. Ker Cabot has been mine and Penelope's best friend for years, and a daughter of Hades whether she liked it or not (which she doesn't.)

"Ker, you look awful!" Penelope's not very good at being discreet once you get to know her.

"Looked in a mirror recently, Penn? You don't look awful, you actually look amazing, but I don't like it." Ker flopped down on one of the beds. She was the only Hades camper, and she'd rather die than admit it, but she often got lonely. She lived in our cabin half the time.

"Crashing here tonight, Ker?" Penelope laughed weakly, clearly trying to get the attention away from her appearance. Ker was right – she did look different. Her hair was pulled back and I think she actually had a touch of makeup on. Penelope had never worn makeup in her entire life. Trust me, you live with a person long enough and you'll come to know these things.

"Yeah, probably," Ker said softly. We were all quiet, because it was tradition for Ker to sleep in the Poseidon cabin on her first night at camp.

_Don't say it, Penelope, _I begged mentally. _Please don't mention it. Please, just keep your mouth shut. Please. Don't. Go. There._

Penelope glanced from Ker to me to back again, and then _she went there._ "When Freddy was alive-"

The three of us cringed. The best way I can explain it is this: The Big Three kids were all a group of friends, but we kind of had subdivisions. Penelope and Ker were especially close, and ditto for the Masen twins, and the same for me and Freddy. Jack had had Gina by his side from day one, so he didn't need us as much as we needed each other.

Penelope's cheeks were fire-engine red. "So, Ker, why are you so upset?"

Ker rubbed her eyes. "I haven't gotten a good night's rest all year. My mom moved us out to LA. She's trying to force Hades and me into bonding time or something. You would not believe how loudly the ghosts scream at me out there."

Ah, yes, the topic of Ker's mom. Ms. Anna Cabot is some sort of super-rich heiress to some family fortune, so when Ker's grandfather died a few years back, she and her mom were rich overnight. She hates it, but it does come in handy to have a couple extra bucks whenever it's needed, like when we redecorated the Hades cabin and installed the super-bright lights. Another thing Ker won't admit: She's afraid of the dark.

Just then, the door slammed open and a short, blond woman burst in. Bunny Parker can't be more than five feet tall, and she's in her early thirties, but she tries really hard to look young.

"Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Zeus," she muttered. "Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Zeus." Then she glanced up at us and her face brightened. "Hey, kids! Wait… Nick, you're a son of Zeus?"

"Bunny, you've been teaching me algebra and English, including spelling, for six months, and you didn't realize that I was a son of Zeus?" Bunny had been teaching academics to the year-rounders ever since she came to camp in December. (It's a long story.)

"Oh, wait, I ask you this every day, don't I? Sorry, I'm just not used to the children of the Big Three _not _having black hair. It's very disturbing. Hell, even Bianca had black hair." She forced a smile. "Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Zeus. Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Zeus."

"What's that mean?" Ker asked, dangling her head over the edge of the bed so her hair touched the floor. She watched Bunny with curious dark eyes.

"That's the birth order of the original six gods, oldest to youngest. I'm trying to memorize it."

Ker shifted her head slightly so she faced Penelope. "My dad is older than yours."

"Ker, _everyone's _dad is older than mine."

"Wrong. Poseidon and Hades's kids, yeah, but that's kind of it."

Penelope folded her arms and scowled. "I resent you for being smarter than me."

"Smarter than I," Ker corrected.

Penelope smirked. "Wrong. 'Me' is an object pronoun."

"Damn your brain."

My half-sister huffed, and then we heard a loud girl-ish squeal from off in the distance. Bunny giggled.

"What was that?" Ker asked. Her voice was jumpy with alarm. Eric, some big evil guy (described as "batshit crazy" by his partner) from the Hermes cabin had escaped camp when Persephone was defeated last year. No one knew where he was, so we were all paranoid.

"It sounded a lot like Gina," Penelope said, stifling a smile.

"Which means the fishboy's back," Bunny finished. "By the way, when did 'fishboy' go from being an insult to being a term of endearment?"

"I think Gina finally uttered it, which, of course, makes everything okay. She could strangle him to the brink of death and he'd walk around saying it was cool," Ker grumbled.

"It's almost lunch time," Bunny said innocently. "You guys can all sit together today. I'll temporarily blind Chiron."

"She's kidding, right?" I asked, glancing at Ker and Penelope. I received no answer, because, as you know, the motto of this camp is "ignore whichever questions are even slightly inconvenient." I probably could've figured out the answer for myself, because Bunny had spent five or so years living with the children of Hermes, so she knew every trick in the book.

"Let's not walk in the Poseidon cabin, lest our eyes be forever defaced," Ker muttered darkly. She heaved herself off the bed and, very dignifiedly, brushed herself off, smoothed her hair, and stood waiting by the door.

"They could be in the Demeter cabin," Penelope pointed out, grabbing her hat.

Bunny froze in the doorway. "Okay, am I misunderstanding you, or _how old are these two again_?"

"Gina turned fifteen in March. Jack in early June, I think," Ker replied casually, smirking.

"Late May, isn't it?" Penelope furrowed her brow.

"June fourth."

"May thirtieth."

"Liar."

"You're the liar!" Penelope stomped her foot indignantly and whirled around, walking stiffly toward the dining pavilion. "Are you coming or not, Nick? Come on, stupid!"

xxx

"I bet it'll make her eyeballs fall out," Adrianna was saying as we arrived at our usual table. Adrianna was pretty, with red hair that curled slightly and big, innocent blue eyes. Somehow, she, at fourteen (or maybe fifteen by now) had managed to get her nose pierced and acquire a little red stud for it.

"No, she'll just kill you," her step-sister, Katy, argued. Katy was pretty too, but it was kind of a given for her, since she was a daughter of Aphrodite.

"I think she'll tear out all that pretty red hair of yours," Camryn Masen remarked. Her twin, the still-blond Camille Masen, nodded in agreement. It was Camryn and Camille's brother, Freddy, who had died last year.

"And then she'll kill you," Camille said, still nodding.

"I suggest shielding your nose," Camryn continued. "I'd imagine having that nose ring ripped out would be rather painful."

"Hey, I have an idea!" Adrianna's half-brother, Troy, exclaimed. "Maybe… just _maybe_… maybe she'll think it's _funny_!"

"What're you guys talking about?" Ker asked, confused. Adrianna opened her mouth to answer, but Jack and Gina finally arrived and she pursed her lips in a thin smile.

"What're you doing here, Troy?" Penelope said curiously, shuffling around in her purse for something.

"I'm here because I am here. Why do you have lip gloss?"

Penelope blushed.

Camryn leaned in towards Jack and Gina and hissed, "If you two start making out in front of me, I swear, I will not only regurgitate my lunch all over you, but I will also _drown you both._"

Jack and Gina grinned slyly. "That won't be a problem, Cam," Jack replied coolly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the redheaded daughter of Poseidon retorted, furious at her lifelong dream of drowning Jack being thwarted.

"Secret," Gina said. "Troy, why're you here?"

"'Cause I said he could be," Katy answered nonchalantly. "I kissed 'im on New Year's, so I figure, hey, whatever." She shrugged, as if it were no big deal, and stroked the chunk of pink rock on her necklace. Gina arched an eyebrow. Katy glanced at her step-sister, and something mischievous passed through her eyes. "So, Adrianna, who'd you kiss on New Year's?"

Adrianna said, with a completely straight face, "Jack."

"Where was I when this happened?" Jack muttered.

Ker dropped her fork, and Gina started choking so badly that Camryn had to reach over and slam her on the back.

"That was unnecessary!" she protested. Adrianna and Katy were laughing hysterically, and Troy was snickering.

"That was funny, okay? That was funny!" Katy giggled maniacally. Oh.

"It was so not funny," Gina groaned.

"It was kind of funny," Jack said with a smirk.

Gina glared at him. "I can dump you anytime I want." Jack shut his mouth immediately. Of course, Gina wouldn't have dumped Jack even if Kronos had come back from the deepest pits of Tartarus and threatened to burn her alive, but evidently Jack didn't know that.

"You sissy!" Ker laughed at Jack and threw a grape at him, which he dodged (he's had a lot of practice.)

"She was kidding, right?" Gina asked, turning to Jack.

Katy rolled her eyes. "No, Gina, we were all just laughing because we thought it was hilarious that Jack cheated on you. Yes, Gina, she was kidding."

"You just ticked off one of the most experienced half-bloods at camp," Troy whispered to Adrianna.

"Aw, she's a priss now. You were way more fun when you were a lovesick puppy dog. Both of you," Adrianna complained. The table was surprisingly silent.

"I miss Freddy," Gina said suddenly. "He'd never let it be this quiet for this long. And he would've been laughing right along with you two." Ker flinched, and I felt a jolt of grief.

"Rose feels bad, if that helps," Katy said softly. She's the only one who can talk about Freddy without many problems, since she never knew him. Rose had killed Freddy, slit his throat without a second's pause.

"Is she back yet?" Adrianna asked, clearing her throat.

Katy nodded. Ker snarled.

"What do I care if she feels bad?" the daughter of Hades growled. "She killed him. He's dead, and she can't take that back."

The table fell silent again, and stayed that way for the rest of lunch.

xxx

"Mr. D, I am outraged," Bunny said, her voice dangerously low. "There's a son of the king of the gods at this camp and you haven't even glanced at him."

"I don't see why he's any more important than his sisters," Chiron said, puzzled.

"Are you being sexist now, Bunny?" Mr. D arched an eyebrow.

"No," she exhaled. "I'm talking about the prophecy of Athena's birth."

"That was thousands of years ago, Bunny," Mr. D soothed. "It doesn't matter anymore. And anyway, it only applied to Metis."

Bunny snarled. "Well, let's go talk to Rachel, why don't we?"

**A/N: Okay, that was kind of long but nothing happened in it. I'm going to end here because this took me way too long. As you can see, I'm still getting into my little writing groove, because this part reminds me a lot of the earlier chapters in HMPWI (that looks funny. HM-PWEE) how Nick barely talks or thinks or acknowledges that he exists.**

** Silly people. I'm still really uncomfortable with using canon characters and so, just feel lucky that I didn't kill Rachel off. She won't appear, but she isn't dead. I don't like her regardless, and I LIKE NICO, and I killed him anyway, so you're on thin ice, Rachel.**

** And now I will fade out. Whoooo *makes ghostly-like movements and fades out to Taylor Swift whining about fairytales***

** SHUT UP TAYLOR D: *throws shoe***


	3. Phaedra Was a Greek Chick

**A/N: Wait 'till you meet Isolde. She's amazing. **

** If you say "HMPWI" pronouncing in HM-PWEE maniacally/insanely and increasing in volume and intensity, it's fun. It kind of sounds like you're giving birth to a watermelon.**

**Nick POV**

"What the hell did you do to Rachel," Bunny said flatly.

"Oh, she's still around," a tall, black-haired girl replied. "I'm her apprentice, Isolde Starr."

"Oh, like I'm going to believe that, kid," Bunny said sarcastically. "No, seriously, what's your real name?"

"Jennifer Williams," the girl admitted. "But I like Isolde Starr. It's my pseudonym. I was going to be a great author. The best of the best! Books by the great and lovely Isolde Starr would fly off the shelves! But unfortunately, after my dreadfully ordinary mortal father left my inconveniently mortal mother, my mother conceived a child with one of the gods. I'm not sure which. When my little half-sister disappeared, I was inducted into the ancient Greek world. It's fantastic, really." She smiled. "Rachel is not here at the moment. I don't officially have the spirit of the Oracle in me so I am unable to foretell any _new _prophecies, but I'm a whiz at just about everything else."

Bunny laughed. "It's okay. I don't need Rachel. Could you just repeat the second Great Prophecy for me, por favor?"

Chiron and Mr. D exchanged a glance.

I stared at Bunny. "What do we need that for? We've still got a good thirty years before it's estimated to come."

Bunny scowled. "Idiot! Just listen."

Isolde, who had been waiting patiently, closed her eyes and recited,

"_Seven half-bloods shall answer the call_

_To storm or fire, the world must fall_

_An oath to keep with final breath_

_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."_

Bunny frowned and furrowed her brow. "Well, I'm off to decipher this. Care to come with, Isolde?"

**Nina POV**

"'Welcome to Camp Half-blood,'" Sunshine read. She wrinkled her nose and sighed. "Well, this is the place, Nina."

I nodded silently. Ever since my mother died, a couple years back, I had been quiet and numb. No feeling. Just numb.

"What is it?" I said simply, after a long pause. Sunshine was a petite, black-haired little girl of twelve, five years younger than me. Her father was a Greek god, but either she didn't know which one or she didn't want to say. She, like me, was looking for a home, somewhere we belonged.

"A camp for kids like us, I think," Sunshine answered. "Weird kids. Freak kids. Bad kids. Special kids." Her face was smooth, expressionless, but something in the way she stared at the entrance to the camp, the "haven," you could say, with a look of distaste.

"What are you two doing?" a gloomy redhead called. She was just inside camp, chatting in low tones with another girl, this one a blonde. Their faces were totally identical.

"We just got here. Is that a problem?" I blinked innocently.

The blonde smiled. "No, no! Sorry. Cam's been a bit of a grouch these past few months."

The red-haired one, Cam, cut in again. "All new campers are supposed to go to Bunny."

I sneered, but Sunshine thrust an arm out to block me from doing any potential damage to the girl and said quickly, "So can you take us to this Bunny?"

Cam narrowed her eyes and the blonde smiled apologetically. "Gladly," they said.

xxx

"Is this a joke?" The short blond woman, Bunny, examined Sunshine from head to toe for the third time.

"For the eighth time, Bunny. No," the blonde said, exasperated. We had learned that her name was Camille, and she was Cam's twin sister.

"Dionysus, come see this girl! Come on, I don't want to drag Percy up for this," Bunny shouted, still staring at Sunshine.

A short, chubby, black-haired man entered the room, with a tall guy with – get this – a white horse for the bottom half of his body. I recoiled in shock.

"You're a horse!"

The chubby main sighed impatiently. "Yes, child, he is a horse. Do we have to go through this every time?"

Bunny grabbed him by the shoulders and pointed him towards Sunshine, who had a puzzled expression on her face. "Now, D," the woman said, "doesn't she look the tiniest bit familiar to you?"

The man, Dionysus, shook his head. "Not in the least."

"Are you Dionysus?" Sunshine asked innocently.

"Yes, he is, and he's very nice," Bunny cooed. "Aren't you, D? Aren't you just the nicest little god there ever has been?"

My eyes widened and I recoiled again. "You're a god!"

Dionysus sighed again. "Yes, child. I am a god. You may call me Mr. D."

Bunny's face fell. "Chiron?" she pleaded.

The horse-man shook his head. "I've never seen her before. Have you?"

Bunny frowned. She didn't reply, and instead tilted her face towards the sky and screamed, "PERSEPHONE!"

A beautiful, tall, black-haired woman popped up from thin air and immediately scowled when she saw Bunny. "What is it, Bun-bun?"

Bunny said nothing, just pointed to Sunshine.

She didn't need to say anything. The woman glared at Sunshine with the sort of outrage that could burn cities. "What the hell? You're like an infestation of fleas, the whole lot of you! You constantly tax my patience, and breed like fruit flies!" She covered her face with her hand and shook her head sadly.

"P, only four of them have existed in the last seventy years," Bunny reminded her. "Persephone, meet Sunshine. Sunshine, meet your sadistic, homicidal step-mommy. Good news, sweetheart. Your daddy's the god of death." I had to bite back a shriek of, "You're a goddess!"

"I am not homicidal," the goddess said serenely, her eyes still focused on Sunshine. "And I am leaving now. So goodbye." She disappeared into thin air, gone just as quickly as she had come.

"Since you remain unclaimed, little one, pick a number from one through twenty." The older woman smiled kindly, leaving Sunshine to stare at the spot where Persephone had been, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"Umm… ten."

"How old did you say you were again?"

"Seventeen. My name is Nina Kincaid, and my mother is half-Quechua, half-Irish. My father, well, no one knows him. He named me Phaedra and left. My mom calls me Nina, _fire, _because she doesn't want to remember him." The well-known story poured out of my mouth like a stream of fire from a dragon.

Bunny looked stunned. "Like Perseus."

"Phaedra and Perseus have no relation whatsoever," Mr. D muttered. "Phaedra killed herself."

"Not _Perseus _Perseus, stupid, the cooler, nicer Perseus who lives in this very city!"

"Perseus lives in Manhattan? Since when?"

"You are an idiot! Perseus Jackson, the guy who _saved the world, _no big deal, am I right? My point is, Phaedra is a Greek chick. Perseus is a Greek dude. This _means _something, D."

Seeing that I was done talking for the day and it was time to cut in, Sunshine said, "So Bunny, why did you have Nina pick a number?"

"Oh, she's sitting with the Aphrodite cabin for lunch. As for bedtime, it's off to the Hermes peeps then. Sorry, but I don't trust Anthony to keep you a virgin."

"Bunny!" the half-horse guy exclaimed.

"I know, I know, show a little maturity." She pouted. "I hate being old!"

xxx

"I am insulted," the brown-haired boy declared. "I am downright insulted. To pass me off as a rapist. The nerve of that woman."

His half-sister, Katy, who had introduced me to the group, chewed her dinner thoughtfully. "I don't think she was calling you a rapist. I think she was saying poor Nina would succumb to your manly charms." I was blushing bright red, but I kept my mouth shut.

Anthony's sister, Aiko, grinned cockily. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Maia?"

The sweet little blonde swallowed and said, "Un autre pari?"

The older girl nodded. "Oui."

The quiet, dark-haired girl sitting isolated at the opposite end of the table called softly, "Je vais vous revenir, Aiko. Vingt dollars de nouveau?"

Maia turned to the girl on her right, Myrtle. "Êtes-vous, chère sœur?"

Myrtle smiled. "Oui. Qui dautre, Aiko?"

Aiko scratched her head. "La jeune fille aux cheveux noirs qui vit dans le grenier! C'est parfait."

Anthony started to protest, but Katy cut him off. "Everyone knows she's got a crush on you, Anthony. Don't even try to deny it. She's as obvious as Gina."

"Gina was extremely subtle," Anthony argued.

"Vous mentez. Gina ont ajouté Jack et tout le monde le savait. Sauf Jack. L'idiot," Myrtle snapped.

"He's not an idiot," Katy giggled. "Just a little bit stupid."

"Exactement mon point de vue!" Myrtle retorted.

"Vous savez quoi? Screw you, Aiko," Anthony muttered, turning back to his food.

"Yes, it's very manly of you to use French," Katy murmured.

"Tais-toi. Je ne vois pas que vous utiliser le français, Miss Pantalon Dainty. Cette langue est dans votre sang, Pierce. Abandonnez l'acte et de le parler, pour l'amour de Zeus," Anthony snapped.

"Okay, d'accord! Fermer la gueule, à cause de l'enfer! Vous confondez la merde hors de Nina et c'est vraiment rude, donc fermez-la, ferme-toi, tais-toi!" Katy exploded.

"So, welcome, Nina," Anthony laughed.

**A/N: Heh, that was fun for me. If you know French, try to translate… it might be a little off because I was using an online translator and I don't know if it picked up my slang or not. Basically, the whole conversation was just pointless arguing, and the only thing you even remotely need to know is that A: The Aphrodite kids all know French and B: Maia and Myrtle just formed another bet.**

** Hope you like Nina… I'm sorry this chapter took so long to update, but I was sick for a few days. Plus, now I have the whole book figured out!**


	4. Katy Snipes Troy With Her EARTH SHOCK

**Nina POV**

"Sorry about all the French at dinner," the Aphrodite girl said softly. She dipped her toes in the river, and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Rose Hamilton was probably the prettiest girl at camp, with soft green eyes and thick dark hair, but there was an aura of unease around her, and most people avoided her.

"It's okay," I replied, in the same quiet tone she used. "Why do people avoid you?"  
She looked surprised that I had asked, but said anyway, "I did something… bad. Two things, actually, but one was bad and the other was just… pointlessly mean." I blinked, indicating that I was waiting for a response, and she sighed and continued, "I don't like to talk about the bad thing. The mean thing is kind of… comical, actually." She smiled to herself. "I kind of stole Jack Chase from Gina Daniels. I played with his emotions for _years _before my mom picked up on it and interfered." She laughed half-bitterly. "That kid's amazing. Really something, just like his parents. He's like Harry Potter. His parents were legends and so is he. Gina's the only one of any of us who _really _deserves him, so I was happy when that worked out despite my selfishness." She poked a fish with her foot, and it swam away. "You know," she murmured absently, "I'm glad Aiko and Maia made another bet. It'd be great if Anthony got a girlfriend. The only other half-blood at camp his age, oh, her name is Devon Handel, and she's got a great life ahead of her. She's only seventeen and already in college, she's in a great relationship with a mortal guy, and her grades are off the charts. I think Anthony feels pressured to be like her. Not to mention Isolde. She's already destined to be the Oracle, and she's very happy just staying around camp all the time, so her life is planned out and suits her perfectly. And you! You're the fire, for Zeus's sake. You're going to be a hero, or something. And then you can open up a casino." She was babbling now, but I wasn't listening. I was the fire? What fire?

"Excuse me," I interjected firmly. "What fire? And why can I open up a casino?"

Rose blushed and stammered, "Uh, well, um… oh, the casino part! You see, people who have Nativ-"

She hadn't even finished the word when I said, "Rose, I'm not Native American. The Quechua people are from a region in South America. My grandpa's Chilean."

Rose giggled. "Oh. I knew that."

"And the fire?"

"You'd better talk to Adrianna."

xxx

"How did _you_ find out?" the red-headed girl said, horrified.

"Rose told me," I replied, blushing. I wished I'd never asked.

"How did _Rose _find out?"

"Katy told me," Rose said, filing her nails in the Apollo cabin. It was deserted except for us three girls and a boy with a mop of curly brown hair, who watched us, seeming interested.

"How did Katy find out?" the boy asked.

"I told her," Adrianna snapped. " And I told you to sit there, be quiet, and let me do my thing, Troy."

Troy sighed dramatically. "The men at this camp are abused profusely."

"Oh, like who?" Rose retorted. "King Jack of the kingdom of Gina and just about every other girl at camp? Anthony, doted upon by his numerous sisters? You, who's dating one of the prettiest girls in camp? Oh, you poor, poor darlings."

"Freddy, who got his throat cut open by the prettiest girl in camp," Troy muttered. Rose flinched and stared at her feet, and then I knew what the "bad thing" she'd done was. I cringed away from her instinctively, but she hadn't seemed like a murderer earlier.

"Troilus Day, that was over the line!" Adrianna screamed. Her face was bright red.

Troy's face darkened and he stood up. "I just don't get it, Adrianna. She _killed _someone. Someone we knew! You didn't know him, but I did. It's not even like she shot a random stranger out on the street. She knew him, she saw him as a person, a real person, but she had no problem with killing him anyway. In real life, people like her are in _jail, _Adrianna."

"Can I cut in?" pretty Katy said, standing in the doorway. She smiled at Troy. "Be nice to my sister, dearest darling. Don't make me end you like I ended Chip."

"Who's Chip?" Troy asked. His voice sounded curious and confused rather than intrusive and jealous, like you'd expect.

Katy giggled, and Adrianna groaned. "Not that wretched game, Kate."

"What?" Troy raised his eyebrows, and exchanged a glance with me. His eyes seemed to say, _Honestly, I'm not all that surprised._

"Confession time," Katy chuckled. "Adrianna got me hooked on-"

"Dating sites," Adrianna interrupted.

Katy frowned. "Adrianna got me completely addicted to-"

"Damn it, Katy, I really want to make a drug joke right now."

"Adrianna, you know those are mean."

"You're making them _way _too easy for me, though!"

"Find something else."

"Boys."

"No."

"Alcohol."

"That's a drug."

"Coffee!"

"A little warmer."

"SEX!"

"Uh, no." Katy turned to Troy with a half-confused, half-disturbed expression on her face. "Adrianna showed me these ads for a game called _World of Warcraft. _While playing my goblin shaman, Jijí, I was tossed into a brief and rather comical relationship with local idiot, Chip Endale. When I was forced from my prestigious position as the future Trade Princess into slavery, Chip dumped me for some chick named Candy Cane. Ludicrous, am I right? So anyway, after I've saved all the goblins numerous times yet I am still somehow at the top of the Trade Prince's hit list, my assistant, Sassy Hardwrench – she's awesome by the way – says to me, 'He broke your heart, Jijí! Go get 'im!' And so I did. He begged for mercy, but I killed him anyway. And then Sassy sends me off to kill Candy Cane, and Candy's all like 'You're ugly!' and I'm all 'Fine then, die, biatch' and then I killed her. The end." She paused, breathing heavily. "So in other words: don't make me snipe your ass with my EARTH SHOCK."

"Couldn't you have just said the snipe thing in the first place?" Troy asked, cocking his head. He looked like an adorable little puppy dog, with his pale blue eyes sparkling.

Katy opened her mouth to snap back a reply, but Adrianna said hurriedly, "So you had something to say?"

Katy snapped her fingers. "Yeah! Bunny's calling all us _cool people_ to the dining pavilion. She's trying to decipher the stupid prophecy."

Adrianna nodded, and Katy grabbed Troy's arm. "So anyway," she said, "wait 'till I tell you about my blood elves."

Adrianna fell into step beside me and whispered, "Katy has eight blood elves."

xxx

"People, people! I have not deciphered most of the prophecy," Bunny announced. I'd been introduced to all the campers who were squished together at one of the tables. The good-looking blondes who hung onto each other as if for dear life were Jack and Gina. The redhead with the sweatshirt was Ker, and the girl with the brown hair next to her was Penelope. The blond boy, Nick, was her brother. Bunny wheeled out a big whiteboard and drew seven horizontal lines.

"We need seven people," she said evenly. "These are our choices." She wrote, in the space under the lines, our names, spaced out: _Jack, Gina, Katy, Nina, Sunshine/Bianca, Ker, Penelope, Nick, Camryn, Camille._

"As you can see," she began, "that is more than seven. We need to narrow it down a bit."

Jack raised his hand. "Why does it say Sunshine/Bianca?"

Bunny smirked. "Ever wondered what Bianca di Angelo looked like, Jack?" She placed her hands on Sunshine's shoulders. "Change a couple of things… make her taller, give her a little brother as an accessory, and voila – this is Bianca."

"That's… impossible," Jack mumbled. Gina and Katy exchanged a strained glance.

"Jack," Katy said, wincing, "First of all, they're half-sisters, of course they look like each other. Secondly, nothing is impossible."

Bunny smiled again, amused. "Anyone have any ideas for the seven?"

Adrianna blushed and stood up. "Katy, Jack, Gina, and me. It just kind of makes sense… why would we have saved camp earlier on Olympus only to be left out of this? We've gotta be destined for it somehow. It just… fits."

"Okay, dreamer girl, correction," Gina muttered under her breath. "Jack saved camp earlier on Olympus. Not us. Jack." Jack seemed to be the only one who heard her, and he smirked.

"That's sweet, Daniels," he whispered back. "Unfortunately, all I did was double cross the only two girls who I've ever been attracted to, supposedly ruining my chances with both of them."

"And then you discovered that one of them has been in love with you since she was in fourth grade," Gina murmured.

"Rose was in love with me for that long?"

"Shut up. You stupid triple agent. You were a really bad triple agent."

"Yes, but I'm your triple agent." He smirked again. She poked him, and he kissed her.

Camryn screamed. "NO! No, get it away! GET IT AWAY FROM ME!"

Gina pulled away and glared at Cam. "Fine. We'll leave. C'mon, Jack, let's go down to the lake, shall we?"

The two of them left, and Bunny, who had been listening intently to their conversation, finally responded to Adrianna's idea.

"Good point," she mused. "I was also thinking this, obviously, since Nick and Nina are the storm and fire." She wrote the names of the four campers she and Adrianna had decided on, and then _Nick _and _Nina._ I glanced up to stare at my name, puzzled. I had arrived as a simple girl in rags, old enough to support herself, and yet, searching desperately for a home. Less than twelve hours later, I was some sort of Chosen One. The pieces of the puzzle were not coming together quite right.

"One more," Bunny continued, looking pleased with herself.

"Penelope and Ker." Nick spoke up for the first time. His voice was confident, and firm, almost harshly so.

"That would make eight, Nick," Penelope said quietly.

"Six plus two equals eight," Ker agreed, nodding.

"I don't care," he snapped. "I'm not going into anything without Ker and Penelope."

"You're going to have to, Nick," Penelope argued.

"We can't be holding your hand forever," Ker growled. "Grow a pair, why don't you?"

"Ah, young love," Troy whispered to Katy. She giggled.

Ker heard that, and glared at Troy. "You're laughing now, Troy. You and Felix used to point and laugh at Jack and Gina, and where are they now? Answer the question, Day. _Where are they now?_"

Adrianna raised her hand. "I have an answer to that."

Bunny pursed her lips to conceal a smile. "Whisper it in my ear before you say it."

Adrianna had to lean down a little to get her lips to the older woman's ear, but she cupped her hands around Bunny's ear and whispered something.

Bunny laughed and patted Adrianna on the back. "Oh yeah, we're related, alright."

"What'd she say?" Ker asked, her face paler than usual.

"They're at the lake conceiving their first child," Adrianna said, with a perfectly expressionless face.

"Oh my eyes, oh, my eyes," Katy groaned. "My beautiful, beautiful blue eyes…."

"I hope you know I'm never going to be able to swim in that lake again," Troy snapped.

Cam and Camille had their heads face down on the table.

"I'm dying," the redhead said. "I'm dying, I'm dying, slowly…"

"You do know that's my nephew you're talking about, right, Adrianna?" Camille asked, voice muffled.

Bunny's nose flinched the tiniest bit. "So anyway… is the other person Gina's unborn baby, or what?"

xxx

"Why are we here again?" Adrianna whispered. I'd been dragged along on a mission to go to the lake, and I was asking myself the same question that Adrianna had just verbalized. Anthony had been picked up along the way, insisting that he was the only one old enough to die if the Furies caught us up after curfew.

"I told you, it's after curfew. Plus, Bunny said she needs them," her step-sister replied sharply.

"Okay, so if the Furies catch us, what do we do?" Anthony quizzed the girls.

"We offer you up as a sacrifice," they answered in unison.

"And why is that?"

"Because you are seventeen and therefore old enough to die."

"Correct." He smiled, pleased with himself.

"I'm seventeen, too," I said quietly.

Anthony turned to me, surprised. "Oh yeah, that's right! Sorry, it's just… I don't know, camp can't lose you, Nina. You're the fire."

"Camp can't lose you either," Katy said softly.

"I'm more expendable than you, little sister."

We walked in silence, pondering his words, until we reached the lake. Gina was curled up by the edge of the little pond, but Jack was nowhere to be seen.

Katy tiptoed over and poked her friend, who was mostly asleep.

She grunted and stretched. "What time is it?"

"Eleven or so. Bunny's calling another quick meeting," Anthony responded.

Gina groaned. "Four hours. Four hours that _wretched_ boy has been down there. What the hell do you do under water for four hours?"

"Is this a trick question? You drown," Katy snapped. She glanced at Adrianna, her eyes full of alarm.

Gina laughed sleepily. "Oh, no, no," she said. "You see, Jack discovered earlier this month that his Poseidon powers were kicking in a little more. I didn't really know that was possible, and unfortunately, his Athena side remains dormant. Why does Bunny need another meeting? I would've thought you guys had decided on the last person."

"Well…," Adrianna said, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly. "We did. But Bunny realized we had thought she was serious and quickly corrected herself. Your unborn child is no longer the seventh half-blood to answer the call."

Gina gave a surprised little laugh. "Oh, holy Zeus, you did not think that."

A head popped up in the middle of the pond, his blondish hair soaked to a dark brown. "She said _what_?"

"How could he hear that from under the water?" I whispered to Anthony

The son of Aphrodite snickered. "Oh, they're the Freak Twins. Ever since they met they've been able to read each others' minds and communicate telepathically."

"It's called an empathy link, Luck, and it's nothing like mind reading," Jack called, disappearing under the water again. He popped back out a few seconds later, closer to the shore. He was dripping wet.

Gina snorted. "To be honest, there were times when I thought we couldn't read each others' minds at all. I waited ten years for you to make a move, Chase, and you're going to make up for that someday."

"You waited five years."

"Six."

"Four."

"FIVE."

Katy smiled. "That's what I love about you two. You never change."

"Well, yes, Katy, you're right, except that a year ago, they weren't snogging in the back of the history classroom," Adrianna muttered.

"Been reading the thesaurus, eh, Adrianna?"

"Snogging is slang. I'm knowledgeable like that."

xxx

"Why the hell are you all wet? You're not supposed to be able to do that," Bunny snapped at Jack. Her voice was jittery, as if she was nervous or stressed, but no one else seemed to pick up on that.

"Apparently I can get wet." He shrugged. "To be honest, I think I'd rather breathe underwater but get wet than drown and stay perfectly dry."

"You'd look nice in your coffin if you stayed dry," Gina murmured.

"Gina, I'd look nice in my coffin slathered in peanut butter and covered in termites."

"I'll take you up on that bet."

Camryn leapt up out of her seat. "If we're killing him, I call dibs."

"I get to be the godmother, you get to kill him. Deal?" Camille turned to her sister and held out a hand to shake.

"I'd just like to let you all know, I'm a virgin," Gina announced. "I know, shocking, right?"

"OKAY," Bunny shouted. "It's eleven thirty and the sooner we get through this, the sooner you guys can go to bed. Anthony, what're you doing here?" He opened his mouth to answer, but she held up a hand to silence him. "No, never mind, I don't need to know. Takes too much time. So, the last of the seven?"

"Like I said earlier," Nick said firmly. "I want Ker and Penelope in this."

"I think Ker's the seventh," Adrianna agreed, nodding.

"I want to be one of the seven, too!" Penelope protested. "Why not me?"

"Yeah, why not her?" Ker groaned.

The arguing continued until I spoke up softly, "Excuse me, but, um, I was thinking… well, the line is 'seven half-bloods will answer the call,' right? So… maybe, like, the fire and the storm aren't in the seven… maybe they're the ones making the call? That way, Nick and I are still involved but we have extra space to hand around."

"I like that idea." Katy smiled and nodded.

"I think it sounds likely," Adrianna agreed, sounding surprised. I wasn't sure whether or not to be offended at her shock, but Gina leaned across the table to me.

"You're lucky," she whispered. "When it comes to prophecies, Adrianna is Miss Prophecy, our go-to gal, and she knows that. She's totally cutthroat ruthless when it comes to her interpretations. If she decided that 'seven half-bloods' really meant 'nine and a half ponies,' she wouldn't rest until Bunny and Apollo agreed with her. Really, I think she just needs approval. That's really what everyone at this camp wants; approval from their godly parent…." She trailed off, staring into space.

"So it's decided," Bunny said. "The seven are Jack, Gina, Katy, Adrianna, Ker, Penelope, and… and… good night." She turned on her heel and walked quickly out of the dining area and toward the Big House, where her room was.

**A/N: Hmm, dunno if that chapter was as long as I thought it was or not….**

** Hopefully we'll be getting some Nick action in soon, I'm in the "new toy" phase where I'm playing with my new toy (Nina) rather than my old, well-known toy (Nick.) It's actually more difficult to write her POV, because she's so serious, but it's fun because she talks so little and I can just let everyone else ramble.**

** Ahahaha so I showed HMPWI to my friend a week or so ago, and she read it, and her first comment after she finished it was "GINA'S A WHORE!" and so now we're in the middle of this huge inside joke where she wrote "GINA DANIELS IS A WHORE" all over my notebook and I wrote "GINA DANIELS IS NOT A WHORE" all over hers and while we argue about it in English, the two guys in our group stare at us like "lolwut." So anyway, I was on World of Warcraft with this friend earlier today and she mentioned how she was going to write a fanfic of my fanfic someday, and an hour or so later she suddenly typed "ANTHONYXJACK" and I'm all like "oh, God, please no…" So I'm guessing Gina "The Whore" Daniels is in for a bit of a shock.**

** There is another Harry Potter reference planned for later. Here's the basic plan of how it goes:**

** Narcissa Prince: Hello! I'm Narcissa Prince and this is my friend, Andromeda Knight.**

** Bellatrix Johnson: Okay Katy what the hell are you pulling here? **

** Are the sex jokes surrounding Gina and Jack a bit much? It occurred to me that they might be on thin ice with the guidelines, so their numbers will be dwindling quite soon. **

** Happy fanficking! (I'm so gonna make that a word.)  
**


	5. Bunny's Flamboyant Sunglasses

**A/N: YOLOHA! Okay, I'm going to stop making up words.**

** I am very very sorry for the delay, but I've been sick. I'm not kidding. Combining my sick days and snow days, I have no idea when the last time I went to school for a full week was.**

** Freddy, Freddy- I have a totally epic name idea for a future villain in this story. It's epic, it's so totally epic.**

** I'm kind of disappointed. Usually when I'm sick I have all these random dreams but this time I only had one and I can't remember it. Here's an example: There's this guy in my Spanish class, Gabe, who's really skater kid badass yadda yadda yadda and so I had this dream and **_**(skip this part if you have a life!)**_** I was sitting in a chair facing him and he had a roll-out whiteboard and on it were the letters "GABIEL."**

** Me: And so… your name is Gabiel? No R?**

** Gabe: Yup, that's right.**

** AND THAT WAS THE WHOLE DREAM. **

** But I digress…**

**Nina POV**

That night, I had the most unusual dream of my entire life. It was kind of like if someone tried to paint Camp Half-Blood without ever seeing it, just by description.

I was standing on what would be Half-Blood Hill, but the grass was short and crisp and the pretty pine tree was nowhere to be found. I tried to make out what I could in the darkness. The cabins in the valley below were arranged in a neat little circle instead of the weird, random shape they'd been at Camp Half-Blood, and they were all identical and made of stone. I didn't have time to marvel long, though.

There was a tall man with black hair and scars all over his face standing with a girl a little younger than me. The girl had dark blond hair and hard gray eyes. She looked like the opposite of Adrianna. Adrianna was warm and loyal, but this girl looked cold and malevolent.

The man was even odder-looking. He was unnaturally tall, and had a kind smile on his face. He had an almost mischievous twinkle in his eyes, but it wasn't mischief… it was kind of like a little twinkling fire. I couldn't come up with a number for his age, he was just… ageless.

The girl seemed to get impatient with my gaping. "Phaedra."

"Nina," I corrected automatically.

Evidently, she didn't like being contradicted. She glared at me and continued. "Phaedra, why do you think you are here." Nothing she said was a question. It seemed kind of like a demand, and also just kind of like she didn't feel the need to exert the effort to adjust the tone of her voice.

"I don't know," I murmured testily. "Why don't you tell me?"

She growled, and the man put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Nina, this is the Titan Camp. While the gods have children, so do the titans… does that make sense?"

I nodded wordlessly. It did make sense, but why was he telling me this? That answer was obvious, because I'm not stupid, but I didn't realize what that obvious answer meant. That came a little later.

"Let's get this straight, Nina. Your father is a titan, you get it? He's not a god. Actually, he's one of the only ones who fought in the last Titan War on our side. He was defeated, but he rebuilt himself quickly enough for you to be born a few years later."

The blond girl waited patiently for him to finish his speech. "Come on, Nina," she said. "The others are waiting for you."

She led me to an empty cabin. There was one unmade bed in a matching set of five or so.

The girl clenched and unclenched her jaw. "Trevor Page has to be the stupidest person on the planet. Now I have to go find him. Go to sleep, you'll wake up here. Don't ask me how it works." She pointed to one narrow bed and walked stiffly out of the cabin, shutting the door loudly behind her.

I lay in the bed silently for awhile, tossing and turning and trying to attract as little attention as possible when the door opened and the blond girl tossed a boy with a mop of brown hair in.

"You're a witch, Poppy!" he shouted at the closed door.

"Isn't she?" I murmured, half to myself, just before drifting off to sleep.

**Nick POV**

"Nick, you sleep like the dead," Bunny snapped, shaking me awake. "Nina's gone. Road trip."

xxx

"You're insane."

We were at our usual table in the dining pavilion, and Gina was staring at Bunny like she'd just said she was going to eat an entire melon. A very sleepy Sage was standing in front of us with her, and Bellatrix was asleep on Rose's shoulder.

Bunny had had a dream where "some chick named Poppy" and "uh, Prometheus, looked like" took Nina (whose father was Hyperion; "defeated by Percy Jackson in the second Titan War, rah rah for Percy") to the titan camp which we were not aware of existing. It was around two in the morning, but she said it couldn't wait.

"Why _them_?" Jack spat. "I can't think of two people I'd rather throw off a cliff."

"That's exactly why. Quests have a tendency to cram people together. Call it bonding! Now we have to figure out our new seven. Clearly Nick _is _one of the seven and not the caller, as Nina thought. So here's my thinking… Nick, Gina, Jack, Adrianna, Katy, Ker, Penelope, and…." She frowned and looked to Rose for help.

Gina laughed. "That's seven!" she said excitedly. "I don't have to work with either of those evil, rotted-out, sorry excuses for walking corpses!"

"Oh." Bunny frowned again. "Then… let's take these three as backup."

"Why would we need backup?" Adrianna asked sleepily.

"Just in case we're wrong," the woman pleaded. "Come on… just in case."

"Fine," Adrianna agreed. "Guys?" The rest of the group nodded half-heartedly, but Jack and Gina scowled.

"We're taking my car," Bunny continued briskly. "It'll give me a chance to drive, and I'm pretty sure I know where the camp is."

xxx

"Bunny, you can't drive across the country while breaking this many seatbelt laws." Chiron surveyed Bunny's massive SUV uneasily. The six seats weren't helping much, and there was a lot of luggage to fit in the back. Sage, silent throughout the ordeal, had been squeezed into a corner, and when Rose and Jack had found themselves seated next to each other, Bellatrix immediately jammed herself in between them. Adrianna had arm-wrestled most of the passengers for shotgun, which Ker wasn't happy about.

"Chiron, you could've fit a person in Katy's suitcase," Adrianna complained.

"Bunny insisted on bringing three extra useless people," Jack muttered.

Bunny removed her flamboyant sunglasses and said, "Chiron, Chiron! We'll be fine. Montana hasn't seen a group like us in years. We'll let you know when we cause more damage than Typhon times three."

"Please don't," Dionysus pleaded, glancing at his watch. "You've got three hours before I call you, Bunny. Do the kids all have weapons?"

Katy fixed her hair into a ponytail and nodded fiercely.

"Does everyone have all their stuff?" Bunny asked, sticking her head inside the car and glancing over everyone.

"Oh!" Katy exclaimed, and ran off. A few moments later she was back, lugging another immense suitcase.

"Absolutely not!" Adrianna shrieked, but Bunny opened the back of her bulging car and lifted the case to load it in.

"Ouch," the suitcase said. Bunny dropped it and skittered back. Katy turned fire engine red.

"She paid me, I swear!" she protested, still blushing.

"Save it, Kate," Rose said, failing to stifle a smile. She unzipped the case and jumped a little when Aiko Luck crawled out.

"I can drive," Aiko began.

"Absolutely not," Rose snapped. "I'm responsible for you and if you get hurt, Mom will kill me."

"She can come," Bunny said carefully, tossing the empty suitcase off to the side. "Rose, if she doesn't go, neither do you. Capisce?"

Rose opened her mouth to let out a retort, then shut it quickly and climbed into the car, cramming herself next to Bellatrix unhappily. Aiko clambered in after her.

"Okay, Adrianna, you're sharing… Katy, you're in the front with her. Strap the seatbelt over both of you, see if that works. I'll turn the airbag off." She climbed in the driver's seat and turned on the engine.

"You have eleven children in that car, Bunny," Chiron reminded her carefully. "This is really unsafe."

"We'll be fine!" she replied briskly, putting her sunglasses back on. "You worry too much, Chiron. I know exactly what I'm doing."

"You'll be stranded by sundown," Mr. D muttered darkly.

**Nina POV**

"So you don't know anyone?" a blond girl, not Poppy, asked incredulously.

I was sitting at a picnic table at the titan version of a dining pavilion with ten or so kids standing around me.

"No, not really," I said quietly. "I just got here. I know Trevor and Poppy. That's it."

She grinned. "Well to start you off, we're half-titans. The term 'demititan' just sounds weird, so no one uses it. Half-blood or half-titan. I'm Brigit, daughter of Mnemosyne – titaness of memory. The Muses are my half-sisters." She continued on. The blond boy with green eyes was Bobby, son of Krios, titan of stars and constellations. Next to him was the slim, curvy brunette, Trina – a daughter of Rhea and clearly one of those girls who just needed to be noticed. Tall, skinny Bianca with dark brown hair was a daughter of Atlas, which made Julio (son of Prometheus, the man I'd met earlier) stifle a laugh. Blond Violet (Epimetheus – afterthought and regret) frowned at him, and the gloomy, muscular boy – Randy – was a son of Rhea, Trina's half-brother. His older sister June had died last month, and the whole camp was feeling the effect. Spencer and Gerard were sons of Pallas, but very different in appearance. Spencer was short and stocky with reddish brown hair, but Gerard was average height with thick black hair. Trina whispered loudly that he was blind, "very unfortunate, really," and Brigit scowled at her. Two boys, Sam and Peter, introduced themselves, sons of Eos and Astreas, respectively.

The last girl, a tanned brunette with the same bronze-colored hair as Penelope, smiled without warmth and said, "I'm Senka, daughter of Asteria… space, necromancy, and prophetic dreams. This is Reed… son of Menoetius. Rashness, anger." She indicated the tall, skinny boy beside her, who nodded.

"And this isn't even all of us," Brigit added, laughing.

"Enough introductions," Trina said briskly. "So, tell us! What're they like?"

"Who? What do you mean?" I asked, startled.

"You mean no one told you?" Brigit sputtered.

"Idiots," Bianca muttered.

"Told me what?"

"You didn't know, Nina?" Gerard said quietly. "You were at the gods' camp. You're our spy."


	6. Something Witty

**A/N: Forgot to include this last time. Here's a little cheat sheet for the titans:**

**Kronos- Titan of time, harvest, and fate**

**Coeus- Titan of wisdom and earth's axis (lord of the north)**

**Krios- Titan of stars and constellations (lord of the south)**

**Mnemosyne- Titaness of memory**

**Iapetus- Titan of mortality, pain, and death (lord of the west)**

**Themis- Titaness of justice, culture, and law**

**Oceanus- Titan of oceans and seas**

**Tethys- Titaness of rivers, lakes, etc.**

**Eos- Titaness of dawn**

**Aigaios- Titan of sea storms**

**Asteria- Titaness of space, necromancy, and prophetic dreams**

**Leto- Titaness of stealth**

**Lelantos- Titan of air, smoothness**

**Atlas- Titan of heavy burdens, strength, and endurance**

**Prometheus- Titan of crafty counsel and forethought**

**Epimetheus- Titan of afterthought and regret**

**Menoetius- Titan of anger and rashness**

**Astreas- Titan of dusk**

**Perses- Titan of destruction**

**Pallas- Titan of battle and warfare (Earlier defeated by Athena – keep this in mind)**

**Phoebe- Titaness of darkness and mysteries**

**Hyperion- Titan of light (lord of the east)**

**Theia- Titaness of sight and enlightenment**

**Rhea- Titaness of nature and earthly elements**

**All taken from the Camp Half-Blood wikia, and I made these handy dandy little pink and blue (color coded by gender) flashcards for myself. **

**Am I the only one whose noticed that the only people who have been regarded as "mean girls" in my stories have all had plant names?**

**All state-to-state differences are totally guesses on my part. Could you make it across northern New Jersey in a few hours? I don't know.**

**Nina POV**

"Jack and Gina are inseparable… they're dating," I continued. "And they have an empathy link… a strong mental connection that allows them to communicate. Also, due to the empathy link, it would only be necessary to incapacitate one of them in battle. Gina's like a mother tiger when it comes to Jack, so it would be hard to get to him without having her dead body over your shoulder."

Brigit, Trina, Senka, Poppy, Reed and I were sitting at the picnic table with a piece of paper in front of us. Poppy had brought out a list of the more prominent campers at Camp Half-Blood (we were Camp Half-Titan) that Prometheus had given her.

"What about Katherine Pierce?" Trina asked, all business.

"Katy," I corrected softly. "She's really nice. After Rose killed some guy last year, Katy's been really supportive and accepting. And Adrianna is her step-sister, so they grew up together. Adrianna and Katy are like the sun and the moon… if they were music, Katy would be sweet and loving and slow, and Adrianna would be some fast-paced dance number. Adrianna has a softer side, though, she's really a silly in love hopeless romantic.

"Ker is always the redhead in the black and pink sweatshirt with the hood up – you can't miss her. She's a weakling, never been able to do much with a weapon. Hurting her would distract Nick, which is key, right?"

"Yeah, you're right," Brigit murmured.

"What about this Anthony Luck kid? You didn't say anything about him," Reed snapped.

I hesitated, but Reed narrowed his brown eyes suspiciously, so I winced, gritted my teeth, and continued. "Anthony Luck. He's seventeen and willing to take one for the team. He's also pretty popular back at camp, and I don't know if I can count on one hand how many girls have killer crushes on him."

"Who?" Reed, Poppy, and Senka asked immediately.

"Ummm well let's see… Isolde Starr, she's the apprentice oracle… Camille Masen, I mentioned her earlier. Camryn Masen, maybe. Aiko was telling me all this."

Poppy scribbled the notes in the boxes next to the names on the list. "Thanks a bunch, Nina. I'll just give these over to Spencer – he's the head of our little army."

"Give it to Gerard, you know he's better at strategy," Brigit argued.

"I'll tell Gerard about it, how's that?" Poppy said sarcastically.

"You know how smart he is, Poppy," Senka said softly. "That's one thing all of us have to admit."

"And it's really mean how you two make fun of him behind his back!" Brigit said, gesturing angrily to Trina and Poppy. Her face was red, and she reminded me a little of Adrianna. Trina had the decency to blush, but Poppy's face remained cool and expressionless.

"I've seen how you tail after Spencer, Poppy," Brigit snarled scathingly, her voice low and menacing. "You don't think I know that you feel no emotion? You don't like Spencer in the least. You think Gerard can't hear you? You think he doesn't know you're there?"

Poppy dropped her notes and advanced on Brigit, holding her head high. "And you don't think I feel made fun of? You don't think I hate being different from you?"

Brigit's face exploded. "You've been _accepted_! No one has ever made fun of you. You've been here since you were six and in nine years – nine years, Poppy! – not a soul has breathed a single, solitary unkind word to you."

"Just because you accepted me didn't mean I accepted myself," Poppy growled. She bent down, picked up the notes, and hurried in the direction of the cabins.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Brigit screamed.

"It means she feels insecure," Trina said quietly.

Brigit rolled her eyes, sat down, and said no more.

**Nick POV**

"My dad wants to talk to you, Bunny," Jack said. We'd all been taking turns on Gina and Bunny's cell phones calling our parents to tell them about the road trip. Bunny was in the middle of a call with her old friend Emma Masen, the twins' mother.

Bunny held up a finger to indicate she'd be off in a sec. "Emma, we're just outside the city. Can't you drive the twins out? Please? I really want them on this. Yeah, I know about the whole Freddy business last year, but I assure you, the girls are fully capable of fighting off any outside attackers. Trust me, Emma, we're the most dangerous things in the area. All of these kids, given a weapon, could kill a cougar, and it's not a stretch to say that Camryn could wrestle a bear and come out on top. We're only ten minutes out. Thanks, Ems! I'll take good care of them." She took the phone from Jack and stared at it for a second. Then she cringed and put it to her ear.

"Aloha, you have reached Bunny Antoinette Parker, how may I help you? No, I don't really have a middle name, but it's got a nice ring to it. Yes, hello to you too, Percy! What is it you need? No, I wasn't planning on it, why do you ask? Oh, of course you did… yes, of course it wasn't your idea… yes, of course it nearly killed you… _idiot._ I was wondering why she took a knife for you. Not the wisest move I've ever seen. So lemme get this straight, Percy. _You _thought that it would cross _my _mind to bring _your_ son down to hell and dump him in a river that _I _nearly fell in at age nineteen. To quell your fears – whatever that means – I'd just like to point out that there are, like, five girls in my roster who would take a knife for that boy."

Sage and Rose and Gina looked at each other suspiciously, and Bunny grinned. "So whose idea was this?" Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Oh, this was Nico's plan? Of course it was. Why didn't he tell me? Oh, it was a secret, I get it." She scowled. "Put stupid Annabeth on the phone. I'm mad at you now. _She _was in on it too? What other secrets did my favorite love triangle have?" She held the phone away from her face and said softly, "I swear, Nico had a crush on Annabeth when he was eleven or so. It was funny, too, how Percy and Annabeth continued being hopelessly in love without noticing the little blip on the screen." She went back to Percy. "I'm outta here, Purse. Well 'Perce' sounds like 'purse' so I figure… fine, goodbye." She hung up the phone and handed it to Gina, who held it out to me hesitantly.

I shook my head. "My mom died when I was two. My aunt took care of me until I came to camp." Gina blushed and pocketed her phone, and Katy smiled sympathetically.

There was a brief pause, and a red minivan pulled over just down the road. Camille and Camryn climbed out, each carrying a fat duffel bag.

"Bye, Mom," they chorused, which made Penelope smile.

"Just like old times, eh?" she murmured, with an arm around Ker.

"Yeah. Just like old times," Ker replied softly. Then, just for good measure, she added, "Before…"

Penelope and Ker flashed identical angry looks at Rose, who hadn't heard their conversation and was watching the Cams carefully.

Bunny gave a pained smile and waved to Ms. Masen as she drove away. "Eh, let's just get this show on the road before someone drives by and we end up as road kill."

xxx

"As an adult, I feel pressured to split the group by gender," Bunny mused, surveying our group. She'd used what little money she had to get us two rooms at a dumpy little motel, and she was staring at us, lined up in a row.

"However," she continued. "That would make for a very uneven ratio." She eyed Jack and me, the only two boys in the group, I was just now realizing. "But like I said… it will look weird if I put Aiko or Rose in with you guys."

Adrianna rolled her eyes. "I call the bed."

Katy lugged her huge suitcase into our room and stood beside it, hands on her hips.

"This stays here, or I sic Adrianna on you. Understand?"

"What does 'sic Adrianna on you' include, exactly?" I whispered to Jack.

"You don't wanna know," he and Katy replied together.

Suddenly Penelope's head poked in the door. "Hey, Nick, Jack, Bunny's sending me and the Cams in to stay with you. That okay?"

"Just keep Adrianna over there and let me have the bed, and I'm fine," Jack muttered.

Adrianna's head popped up just below Penelope's. Jack raised an eyebrow, and she blinked at him, and he blinked at her. Realizing he wasn't going to scream or wet his pants or whatever she expected him to do, she scowled and her head disappeared.

"And a point goes to Jack…," Jack muttered.

"Yes," Adrianna called sarcastically. "And now the score is one to twenty!"

xxx

I was having a nice, restful, good night's sleep, when a shriek from Rose woke us all up.

"_What _in the name of _hell_ were you _doing _in there?"

She was standing on her toes, red-faced, screaming at a sheepish Anthony Luck. Katy stood beside Rose, blushing and staring at her feet. Katy's suitcase was lying open on the floor, not even half full with the bare minimum of clothing and accessories – very un-Katy-ish.

Bunny appeared in the door connecting our two rooms. "What's going on?" she yawned, rubbing her eyes. She noticed Anthony, and furrowed her brow, puzzled.

"Why are you here?" Rose hissed.

"Tell her," Katy said softly.

Anthony shook his head vigorously.

"Tell her," Katy murmured.

"_Tell me_," Rose growled in a dangerously low tone.

Bunny held up a hand to silence her. She wrinkled her nose and squinted at Anthony. "How did you stay in that suitcase for so long without us noticing? It's been, like, twelve hours."

He shrugged. "I knew if I got out, Rose would make sure I was horribly scarred for life. I figured I was better off cramped and uncomfortable."

"Why are you here?" Rose repeated.

Anthony shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. Katy nodded, and finally he sighed and said, "I just wanted to check in on my darling little sisters, especially you, sweet, kindly, merciful Rose."

Katy raised an eyebrow and said flatly, "Really?"

Rose's face softened. She hadn't been called sweet, kindly, or merciful for a long time – ever since she killed Freddy Masen back in November, she'd been viewed by the entire camp as an evil taboo who was lucky that we didn't burn her alive.

Suddenly she turned to Katy and asked sharply, "Is he lying?"

Katy shrugged. "He wouldn't tell me anything. I don't think so, though."

"Hold on a sec," Bunny snapped. "Rose, what were _you_ doing up at two A.M. peeking in your sister's suitcase?"

Rose blushed. "After Aiko's little stunt, I figured the second _suspiciously large _bag was filled with yet another living, breathing human being. I thought it would be Maia or Myrtle, though… but I'm not surprised. By the way, how did you breathe in there?"

"I left part of it unzipped," Katy mumbled.

Rose smiled sourly. "Of course you did."

Bunny yawned and ushered the girls back into their room. "Anthony, you can sleep in here, the "guys' room" which is half female… I've got an extra sleeping bag. It's in my bag… yeah, over there, next to Jack's. G'night, boys… and Penelope and Camryn and Camille."

"So I can stay?" Anthony said, shocked.

"Well, I don't have any other choice, kiddo," Bunny replied, smiling. She disappeared into her room and shut the door.

There was silence for awhile as we tried to get back to sleep. Finally – she must have figured we were all asleep – Penelope said, into the darkness, "I know why you're really here, Anthony."

"No you don't," he mumbled.

"I think it's sweet," she replied softly.

"Good night, Penelope."

"Good night, Anthony."


	7. Zeus Has a Sandbox

**A/N: You know, it just occurred to me – can Percy breathe underwater? I got the impression from the beginning of the PJO movie that he could, but I'm still not sure.**

**Nick POV**

"Up and at 'em, kids!" Bunny said cheerily, shaking Anthony awake. "You can sleep in the car, Anthony, okay? You had a long night last night. How late were you up?"

He got up and yawned. "I dunno… until… four? Five?" It was seven o'clock; Bunny wanted to get in as many miles as possible. Aiko cringed and Camille smiled sympathetically.

"Where's Adrianna?" Gina said suspiciously.

"In the bathroom getting dressed, probably, why?" Katy asked curiously.

"I just don't see her problem," the daughter of Demeter sighed. "Ever since Jack and I started dating she's been a real… real…."

"Witch?" Katy suggested, amused.

"Not exactly what we're looking for," Jack muttered.

Gina grinned. "Close enough, though."

Katy frowned and furrowed her brow. She thought for a moment before she said carefully, "Well… I think she's kind of… jealous, in a way. You guys are so happy and she wishes her life was like that. Plus, she loved the excitement of the buildup to your long-awaited romantic lives."

Adrianna popped into the room. Her face was slightly pink, and I guessed she'd heard Katy and Gina. "Bunny, we're pretty much ready to go. Just the dudes need to get dressed and then we're good to go. I'm going to pack up the car, can you help? Bunny? Bunny…?"

Bunny had been staring out the window, lost in thought, arms folded. She shook her head and came back to reality. "Yeah?"

"Okay, what's wrong?" Adrianna snapped, icily placing a hand on one hip.

Bunny's face turned brick red. "The last line of the prophecy has me concerned."

"Which line is that again?" I asked.

Adrianna smiled. "You should've memorized this by now, Mr. Stormface. '_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death._'"

Ker narrowed her eyes. "Why does that concern you?"

"Just… worried… for Hades. It's no big deal… I'm sure he can handle himself, but…" She trailed off.

Ker's entire face crinkled up in a disgusted scowl that only a daughter of Hades could've managed.

xxx

Anthony was asleep within ten minutes of driving, his head leaning on the window. Adrianna followed soon after, the headphones to her MP3 still blasting into her ears.

"Is he okay?" Camryn asked, nodding her head towards Anthony.

"Oh, he's fine," Penelope murmured. "He had a lot to think over last night."

Rose glanced at her brother sympathetically. "Poor kid."

Katy looked confused, which made Rose roll her eyes.

"Why are Bellatrix and Sage so quiet?" Gina asked suspiciously. "I haven't heard either of you say a word at all."

"Go to bloody hell," Bellatrix snapped irritably. "Is that better?"

There was silence for awhile, before Camille blurted out, "My mom loves the ocean."

And then the dam broke.

"She's where Freddy got it from. Ever since he was little, he just lived for our summer trips to Maine. Southern Maine. We stayed in a hotel right across from the beach...," Cam whispered hoarsely.

"He'd drag us out to the aquarium at least once a month," Camille continued. "We've been as far as Connecticut."

"Boston too?" Bunny asked from the front seat. She didn't take her eyes off the road.

"Yeah…," Cam said quietly.

"I liked the penguins," Camille murmured. She closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

"We got matching turtle necklaces, the two of us. Camille's was holding a white ball and mine was blue. You still have yours, don't you, Camille?"

Camille didn't open her eyes, but she pulled at the chain she wore around her neck all the time to show us the turtle that was always under her shirt.

"That was the first time we felt like twins, the two of us," Camryn recalled. "Freddy thought it was so funny, that we matched. We matched in everything we did for the rest of his life. I liked it, honestly…."

"I was always afraid of sharks," Camille whispered. "Freddy and Cam would splash right on into the ocean, but I always hesitated. I thought a shark would come in a wave and bump into my leg, and take a bite out of me…."

The entire car was silent, even Bunny. We just listened as the Cams blurted out everything about their childhoods, especially about Freddy. Penelope's lip trembled and Ker pulled her hair over her eyes, but the twins remained stone-faced. Rose had silent tears streaming in two thin lines down her face, and Katy buried her face in her hands. The whole thing didn't even feel like a lecture designed to make Rose feel guilty, it was just two girls telling us about their memories of their little brother.

Anthony and Adrianna woke up halfway through this. Adrianna's face was white, but she wouldn't tell us what had freaked her out. Adrianna had a tendency to be the receiver of all the ominous dreams, so we relied on her Apollo-ness to get us through our lives.

We talked about everything and nothing until Bunny pulled into the parking lot of a shabby-looking building. The sun had set long ago, and the stars were out.

"Cheap," she explained. Ker immediately pulled out her wallet and handed Bunny a handful of bills. Bunny looked shocked, but handed the money to Aiko.

"Two rooms again… get us two keys per room. Thanks," she said absently, leaning against her car and staring up at the stars.

She nodded towards the moon and pointed to a constellation nearby. "See that little group of stars? I knew that girl. I hated her, too."

"Zoë Nightshade," Gina whispered.

"Gosh, you know all this, don't you, Gina?" Bunny grinned, but her expression still had a tint of sadness in it. "You've got a gem, here, Jacky."

"We know," Adrianna muttered. Gina blushed, and Jack smirked.

Bunny tilted her face back towards the sky. "Very brave girl. Very, very brave girl. Also very stupid… but brave. She went along on a quest knowing who would die and who wouldn't. That's what I've felt guilty about, all these years. I wish she'd brought me along instead of Bianca, or I'd joined the hunters, or something… I just wish that quest had ended differently." She smiled again. "When I was eight and nine… I used a dagger. I wanted to be like Annabeth… I looked up to here kind of like she looked up to Luke. After Zoë and Bianca died, my older brother made me a bow and that was that." She giggled. "I liked Michael Yew right off the bat because he was so short. I was actually taller than him, and that was awesome."

Aiko returned to our group and handed Bunny a key. "This is the girls' room key. C'mon, let's start moving our stuff."

**Nina POV**

Before I knew it, Bunny and the other demigods were parked in front of the entrance to Camp Half-Titan. Reed and Senka immediately went to check them out. I had wanted to go with them, but Trina said Reed had told her to keep me hidden "even if she had to sit on me."

Brigit blushed. "Sorry. C'mon, Nina… I'll let you watch them from the bushes. Just follow me, and don't be seen."

We crept through the bushes to spy on Senka and Reed and Bunny, and I was shocked to see she'd brought what seemed like half the camp with her.

"Hello," Reed said stiffly. "Can we help you?"

"Hi!" Bunny replied cheerily. "Yeah, I'm looking for Nina Kincaid. Can I talk to her, please?"

"Phaedra left for New York last night." Senka's acting was perfect, she really looked puzzled. "Said she had some friends there… someone she had to get back to."

"All right… then let me talk to Prometheus, okay?"

"He's not here."

"Well then where is he?"

"Prometheus doesn't lead us," Reed snapped. Senka put a hand on his shoulder, and he shut his mouth.

"Prometheus does not govern this camp," Senka said icily. "We govern ourselves. We have no leader. We have a council of twenty-two people, for twenty-three titans, thanks to your leader over in Manhattan."

Jack opened his mouth to say something, but Bunny, red-faced, cut him off. "Look, sugar. Percy Jackson doesn't lead me, and he doesn't lead that camp. Get with the times, _chica. _Percy Jackson is, like, forty-ish. My name is Bunny Parker, and this is Katy Pierce, and this is Jack Chase, and this is Gina Daniels, and we're a kickass team, and we're going to save the world. From you."

"We know who you are," Senka replied coolly. "We know that the two brunettes are Anthony and Aiko Luck, and we know that Jack and Gina are dating. We know that you're just a wannabe goddess, and you think you can play in the immortals' sandbox. Well guess what, _sugar_? You can't."

There was a long silence as her words sank in. Then Adrianna broke it.

"Where is that girl?" she shrieked. "I'll tie her to a tree by that pretty hair of hers."

"Aw, c'mon, Adrianna, we don't know-" Anthony started to protest, but he was cut off.

Bellatrix, the little daughter of Hecate whose dark hair reminded me of Sunshine, cut him off. "What a bitch," she fumed. "What a total bitch. She comes to us, 'Hey, I'm Nina, look at me, look at me!' and all along she's just a _spy._ She's acting all innocent and pretty and sweet, but she's really just working for these morons."

"It wasn't like that," Katy whispered, but her expression was tight and sad. She thought I'd betrayed her.

_But… you did, Nina, _I thought. Brigit smiled sadly. _You're guilty of everything they're accusing you of. Do you regret it? Do you, do you really? You should._

_ I'm not a demigod. I'm a half-titan. This is my family. These kids are supposed to be my friends… it's a mistake I ended up with Sunshine..._

_ But…_

_ But nothing. This is my blood. This is where I belong._

**A/N: Nina is not a schizophrenic. Just because some of her thoughts say "you" instead of "I" doesn't mean she's a schizophrenic, and both perspectives are her. Think of it like the angel-and-devil-on-shoulder thing. One part of her is saying she's wrong, but the other thinks she's right. I love conflicted characters :)**

** Awwhh, Bunny's got a crush on Hades :) Isn't that cute?**


	8. Ding Dong the Hope for Diplomacy is Dead

**A/N: Just a quick note to Avelinette (who gave me a heads-up on Bunny's Sueishness) – I'm handling Bunny. It won't look like it, but I'm pretty sure I have a plan to keep her under control. Thanks for the warning :) She was so much better last book . I miss Katy and Adrianna.**

**Seriously, what is up with the term "quarter-blood?" I was on the PJO fanfic wikia and I looked at, like, eight different "quarter-bloods" just to make sure I was interpreting the meaning right. And all Percy's kids have black hair and green eyes =\ Unless they're by Thalia, then sometimes they have blue eyes. **

**Error alert: Senka said at the end of last chapter that there were twenty-two cabins for twenty-three titans. She (because of course I had NOTHING to do with it!) was wrong – there are 24 cabins for 24 titans. 23 are occupied (Kronos's is empty for obvious reasons.) Which would mean there's a council of 23 people for 24 titans, to put it into Senka's context. ("Senka" means "shadow" in Serbian and Croatian. Just a bit of random knowledge there.)**

**By the way, Ker's last name, Cabot, is pronounced the English way. Ca-bot, exactly like it looks. **

**Nick POV**

"Our camp is not unlike yours." The tall blonde who'd introduced herself as Poppy was giving us a tour of the camp, mainly the cabins.

I didn't know how I felt about Nina's scheme. She'd betrayed us, but I just didn't want to think about that.

"So who's your godly parent again?" Bunny asked. She must've asked Poppy this question about a hundred times, but Poppy never answered.

There was silence for awhile, before she finally responded. "Titan. My titan parent. My grandmother, on my mom's side, is Phoebe. My grandfather – on my dad's side – is Lelantos."

"No way," Jack breathed.

Gina groaned.

"Watch out, Gina, someone's giving you a run for your money," Adrianna snickered. She looked positively gleeful.

Poppy half-smiled. "You must be Jack Chase. You know we're officially called 'quarter-bloods?' No joke."

"That doesn't make any sense," he said, frowning. "We've still got half-god blood, or half-titan blood."

Poppy's half-smile widened into a grin, and her nose crinkled. "Exactly! I asked Prometheus about it, and he said it was just the term, but why keep the term? It's misleading. Oh." She pointed to the cabin with a big **#20 **painted in white letters on a black square. The rest was all stone. "This is Asteria's cabin. Senka lives here, along with her half-sisters." She knocked on the big wooden door.

A girl with a blank expression and caramel-colored hair like Senka's opened the door. Another girl, obviously her half-sister, glanced up from a book she'd been reading.

"What's wrong, Andromeda?" the reading girl asked.

Andromeda stared at us in confusion. "Nothing, Narcissa. Poppy's brought… people."

"Bella, you can handle this, can't you?" Poppy turned to Bellatrix.

"What do you mean?" the younger girl asked. Her shoulder twitched.

"Can't you room here? Andromeda and Senka are really good with magic… maybe you can teach each other some things."

Narcissa smiled. "That would be nice."

Bellatrix glanced from Adrianna to Bunny and back again. Then she sighed. "This isn't fair."

Poppy blinked confusedly. "I don't get it."

Adrianna, who'd been giggling the entire time, paused her insane laughter long enough to choke out, "Oh, it's book humor."

Katy elbowed her sister. "Bellatrix would be happy to stay here," she said, glancing angrily at Adrianna, who coughed to cover up another fit of laughter.

Bellatrix shot a mutinous look at Katy.

"That's great!" Narcissa squealed. "Oh, Bella, you'll love it here. It's so fun, with just us girls. Are you quiet? Senka and Andromeda are quiet. I wish they liked talking more. I like talking, don't you? I think it's just that I like people. Maybe Senka and Andromeda are so good at magic-y things because they study so much. I don't study much. I think anything about Hecate is interesting – I already know a lot about Asteria, my mom. But Senka says titans are better than gods, so she won't let me study Hecate in the detail I want to. But _you _know all about Hecate, don't you? You must've met her, even!"

Judging by the look on Bellatrix's face, Narcissa was five seconds away from being horribly cursed for life.

"Demigods don't often meet their godly parents," Katy said quietly.

Narcissa's face fell. "Oh, that's awful! All our parents come for our birthdays, at least."

"Awful," Andromeda echoed.

The little witch softened. "It is kind of lonely living by myself," she murmured. "Yeah, I'll give it a try. Katy, Adrianna… stay with me?"

Adrianna didn't even have a chance to reject the offer when Katy dragged her in and shut the door.

Poppy laughed. "Okay… I want to make this a little faster. I just want you to meet someone..."

xxx

"It'll be quick, I promise," Poppy said. It was past dinnertime, and the moon was out. Bunny seemed impatient to get us all to our temporary cabins.

Poppy brought us to another stone cabin, this one labeled with a big four. She raised her hand to knock, but before she made contact with the wood, the door swung open.

"Welcome to Cabin Four," a tall, wiry girl with black hair that fell in waves to her shoulders stood in the doorway. "My name is Ankita Riddle, and..." She trailed off, narrowing her eyes at Bunny. Bunny was just starting to look nervous when Ankita's gaze flicked to Anthony. "My name is Ankita Riddle, and you two… you two are hiding something."

Anthony didn't look surprised – just a little panicky. Poppy raised her eyebrows, but otherwise didn't react. Bunny, however, freaked out.

"Hiding something?" she snapped. "I'm hiding nothing. I brought these kids here, and I'm trying to make peace with you lot!" There was a jumpy edge to her voice.

Poppy smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Theia's kids tend to be a little… creepy. No one really gets it… Theia is the titan of sight and enlightenment, but it's almost like Ankita can see right into a person's soul. It freaks everyone else out."

"I'm still here, Poppy," Ankita said, rolling her eyes.

"I know, Ankita, I know," Poppy laughed, and she looked genuinely happy for the first time. "Okay, I have a list of who's going where." She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and read off of it. "Ker Cabot – cabin twenty-two – Menoetius. You're in with Reed. He's nice… once you get to know him. Umm, Bunny Parker, Aiko Luck – you two are in four with Ankita here." Ankita gave a cheery little wave, and Poppy smiled. "Camryn Masen and Camille Masen, just find the triplets. Just ask anyone for the triplets. Gina Daniels, Rose Hamilton, and Sage Harman – cabin three please."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Penelope beat me to the punch. "What about me, Anthony, Jack, and Nick?"

Poppy looked at her confusedly for a second but then nodded and glanced back at the paper in her hand. A small smile crept onto her face, and Penelope narrowed her eyes. "Oh, don't worry, Penelope, we've reserved a special place for the god king's children and the gods' pet's son."

"Wow, really?" Bunny muttered. "Never heard that one before." She giggled to herself. Gina seemed to catch on to what Poppy was saying, and raised her eyebrows.

"Jack Chase and company – please proceed to Cabin numero uno."

xxx

"She can't possibly understand the… the… the weight of what she's doing," Gina said, hands on her hips. Her head was tilted upward as she surveyed the ceiling of the Kronos cabin.

Yup. You read that correctly.

Percy Jackson's son is living in the cabin honoring Kronos, titan of time, fate, and the harvest.

"This is utter bull, is what it is," Penelope burst out. When we turned to stare at her, she continued angrily, "What, you don't think they planned this? You don't think Nina played a part in where I'll be sleeping tonight?"

"She's right," Bunny agreed. "This was Nina's idea."

Anthony hadn't even uttered a word before Penelope lashed out at him. "Shut up! Don't defend her. I don't care what your mommy is playing with in your head – she's evil and if you want to love that, that's your problem, mister."

Even Aiko was shocked. "Where did _that _come from?"

Penelope and Anthony were identical shades of red. "I… I have no idea," she stuttered, hand over her mouth.

"I don't have any positive feelings whatsoever for Nina Kincaid – does that answer your question, Penelope?" Anthony said lightly.

"It wasn't a question!" she shrieked in frustration.

"Leave him alone, Penelope," said Bunny, quietly.

"Yeah, Penn, that was uncalled for," I agreed.

Penelope whirled around to face me. "Would you cut it out, Nick? I know what you're doing. That's something _he _would say. You're trying to replace him. Well you know what, Nick? You can't. You can't, so just give up already, stupid!" And then she burst into tears and buried her face in her hands. Ker pulled the hood up on her sweatshirt, and glared at me like, _Dude, you handle this one._

Yeah, this is exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday night.

**A/N: In case you couldn't tell, the guy Penelope is referring to is Freddy. Poor Freddy. He's actually a pretty good character, now that I have him all nice and developed. **

"**The triplets" are Finn, Minnow, and Tetra – children of Tethys unless something changes. And for those of you who've played Legend of Zelda – yes, Tetra is named after my favorite blond pirate chick. **

**Ankita is pronounced uhn-kee-tah.**


	9. Anthony is a Subtlety Fail

**A/N: Gosh, I'm so sorry this is so late. Technical difficulties lately. However, a lot of the upcoming plot has been planned out a little bit better. And I'm brainstorming for book 3, which will basically be the same plot as book 2, CONTINUED.**

**I was wrong. TECHNICALLY, Nina IS Native American. Sorry. Didn't mean to insult the Quechua people or anything, just when I think Native American, I think Iroquois and Cherokee and mainly U.S. tribes :x I feel stupid now.**

**Sorry, some of the characters might be a little OOC (especially Gina, unfortunately) because it's been a really long time since I've written anything about them. AND the only person who I talk to about my characters is my friend (****SHE KNOWS WHO SHE IS. GINA-KILLER.****) She HATES Gina and so whenever we talk about my characters, Gina is usually portrayed in an uncharacteristically b-wordy way. Gina's drastic personality change from book 1 to book 2 have called for drastic measures… bwahaha…**

**Still toying with Nina because Nick annoys me to high heaven. **

**Nina POV**

"Oh my gods, Sage, just leave me alone!"

As had become daily life for any half-blood, I woke up to the sound of two girls bickering.

I had been asleep when the three girls entered the cabin, but it had been so dark and late at night that Trevor managed to keep me hidden. I had also been asleep when they woke up, but they didn't notice me. Sage and Gina hadn't been out of bed for ten seconds before they started screaming at each other.

I couldn't see much, because I was on the top bunk, but I could hear them. Rose was sitting up on the bunk just across from mine, and her eyes widened when she saw me, but she didn't say anything.

"What's wrong, Daniels, you scared?" Sage taunted.

"Of you?" Gina scoffed, turning to face Sage, hands on her hips. "Not hardly."

Sage narrowed her eyes. "Okay, listen, Daniels. You think you're so great, but you know what?" She didn't wait for an answer. "I want that boy of yours, and I hate to be a cliché mean-girl, but I get what I want." She smiled a cruel, fake sort of smile. "Then again, you're Mrs. Cliché, aren't you?"

"Yeah, you wish, Sage." Gina seemed almost at a loss, for once, but her voice retained the same old biting quality.

Rose opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it quickly. Trevor stared at Sage.

"Your friends are scary, Nina," he said.

"Tell me about it," Rose muttered.

"You're the scariest one of us all!" Gina snapped, turning on her. Then it registered in her brain what Trevor had said.

Sage, however, was way ahead of her. "_Nina_!" she gasped, shocked. Her brow furrowed, but whether it was in in anger or confusion or both, I don't know.

"Hi," I said quietly.

Rose's mouth twitched into a smile. "Anthony's gonna explode."

xxx

Even Katy was mad at me.

"You let them lie to us!" she shouted. "Do you even know the _symbolism _of where you and your friends are-"

"Let me handle it, Kate," Bunny said quietly. "Nina, honey-"

I cut her off. "Don't treat me like a child. I'm seventeen. I made my own decisions."

"Not helping yourself, Nina," Anthony groaned.

I'm not exactly sure which ones, but I'm sure at least two of his sisters screamed at him to shut up. Penelope grinned.

Aiko bit her lip, looking like she wanted to jump to her brother's defense or something.

"You _spied _on us. You _lied _to us. And do you even know what sort of insult it was the put Jack in the Kronos cabin? Assigning _any _of us there was inappropriate, but that was downright not cool," Gina growled. Trevor was right. She was scary.

"Can I interrupt?" Brigit's voice came from the entrance to the Kronos cabin, and the door swung open to reveal Brigit, Trina, Senka, and Reed. Brigit and Trina looked embarrassed, but Senka and Reed had identical auras of confidence.

"Nina went to Camp Half-Blood thinking she was a demigod like all of you," Senka explained. She blushed. "We had Prometheus drag her here."

"We pressured her into giving us inside info on you guys," Trina continued. She twirled her hair around one finger nervously.

"_Why_?" Anthony said incredulously.

"Why do you think, kid? The gods have beat the titans just a few times too many for our liking," Reed snapped.

"Oh, just shut _up, _Reed, you're killing us here," Trina grumbled.

"Whose idea was the Kronos cabin fiasco?" Gina said icily.

Brigit shrugged. "It seemed like a great idea at the time."

Gina snorted. "Yeah, right. Half-titans – _get out._"

"It's our cabin!" Reed protested.

"I don't care!"

"Reed, let's just go," Senka said, her voice as icy as Gina's.

"Yeah, she's not worth it," Trina added cheerfully. "Stupid Rhea wannabe."

"Oh, dear," Bunny whispered.

Gina's eyes were narrowed and spitting fire. Trina cocked her head, as if she was waiting for something.

"Just go," Jack warned her. "Trust me."

Adrianna snorted. "Yeah, Jack, you know what it's like to get a piece of Gina's violent side, don't you?"

"Unfortunately," Jack muttered.

"He deserved it," Gina snapped.

"We're leaving now," Brigit said loudly, and shoved her three friends out the door, rolling her eyes. She waved and closed the door behind her.

Adrianna placed one hand on her hip and frowned. "Well, this is boring. Ah. Let's go, guys." Katy nodded and most of them filed out.

Anthony stayed behind. He looked at me awhile, until I finally said, "_What_?" He didn't answer, until I continued, "Are you going to chew me out too?"

He smiled and shook his head. "What you did was wrong, Nina," he said, which was totally an oxymoron.

"You just said you wouldn't chew me out," I protested weakly.

"I won't. Just saying, it was wrong. It wasn't quite lying, but it felt like it somehow."

"Please go away," I begged.

He smiled. "But I live here now, remember?"

"That wasn't my idea…"

He looked genuinely shocked. "It wasn't?"

I shook my head.

He stared at me again, cocking his head.

"_What is your problem_?"

"Nothing. You're pretty, you know that, Nina?" He strolled leisurely to the door and held it open. "I hate you," he said quietly, before he closed the door and left me in the Kronos cabin, confused and alone.

**Nick POV**

"What's his problem?" Adrianna grumbled, watching Anthony walk towards us slowly.

"Oh, he'll be alright," Aiko assured her. She chewed on her bottom lip. "I think."

"You don't know what's wrong with him, do you?"

Aiko looked embarrassed.

"That's a first," Gina murmured.

"It sounds weird, but I almost feel like I'm losing him," the daughter of Aphrodite said anxiously. "He's always so distant, preoccupied. I miss the Anthony who used to tackle me whenever I'd walk in the door." She paused. "He's kind of all I've got."

Camille nodded understandingly, but Aiko shook her head fiercely. "You still have Camryn. If Anthony loses his mind, I'm totally alone. I've never even made any friends. All I've ever needed was my older brother, and now it seems like he doesn't need me anymore." She sniffled.

"Aiko, if you start crying, you know we'll all start bawling," Rose said nervously. "I've known you my entire life and you haven't cried since you were a baby."

"Aw, she won't start crying," Anthony said cheerfully, having finally gotten to our little circle. "You're not a crier, are you, Aiko?"

"Never have been, big brother."

"That's my girl."

Aiko beamed.

"Where's Nina?" Ker voiced my thoughts, like she often did, except the way she said it was suspicious, whereas I was just curious.

"I don't care."

Penelope rolled her eyes.

Anthony glared at her. "I don't!"

"Is she okay?" Katy asked, glancing over her older brother's shoulder.

Anthony scowled. "Don't know, don't care."

"What in the world did you say to her?"

"Nothing. Just that what she did was wrong and stuff."

"You dirty liar. What did you say?"

"I'm not lying."

"Well you're not telling the whole truth." Any other day, Aiko would've folded her arms or pinned him to the ground and spoon-fed him lima beans until he confessed, but her hands just twitched nervously and her expression was pleading.

"Look," he snapped. "No one cares how she feels. She's a dirty traitor and you know what? That's just fine with me."

"This trip isn't going how you planned, is it, Anthony?" Penelope smiled sadly.

He didn't answer, while Aiko stared at her older brother, concerned and confused.

**Nina POV**

"Hey Neens, why the long face?" Trevor said cheerily as I trudged into the Hyperion cabin.

Ordinarily, I would've answered, but I hadn't heard anything past the second word in his sentence. "_Neens_?"

"Yeah, I have to have a nickname for everyone. Gina is Gigi, Rose is Rosie, and Sage is Meanie Bitch Face."

Couldn't argue with that.

"Call Gina Regina. It'll drive her up a wall." I grinned. "She'll have weeds bursting through our floor within an hour."

He grinned back. "Great idea. So, why the long face?"

"You don't give up, do you?"

"Nope. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I answered robotically.

He scowled and opened his mouth to ask the question for a fourth time, but Rose burst in the door, quite dramatically, with Anthony in tow.

"Apologize, you dumb bastard," she snapped at her brother, "or you owe me twenty bucks."

"You cost me a twenty when Gina won Jack over."

"How is that my fault? I can't compete with childhood friendships!"

"What's going on?" I asked, staring at the siblings.

"Anthony said something mean to you, didn't he?" she half-shrieked. "Didn't he? Listen, Nina, you don't know this, but I have twenty bucks and my brother's happiness on the line here, so if you could please just ignore everything he says, that'd be fantastic."

Trevor rolled his eyes. "Kronos got sent back to the Underworld by _these _people? I'm suddenly much less hopeful for his ability to escape again."

Rose and Anthony froze. "What did you say?" she asked, staring at Trevor.

"You people are nuts."

"Kronos is trying to escape again?" Anthony seemed even more alarmed than Rose, which was unusual for him.

"Well we're not sure if it's possible yet, but we're trying."

"WHAT?" Rose screamed.

Jack and Gina, who'd been right outside the door, were standing just inside the cabin with their mouths hanging open.

"What's wrong with that?" Trevor said innocently.

"Oh gods, what's wrong with that! What's wrong with that?" Rose groaned. She seemed half hysterical, while Jack and Gina were still speechless.

Trevor frowned. "Hm… well… now that you mention it, that does sound kind of… bad to you guys, doesn't it?"

"Bad doesn't begin to describe it!" Jack finally snapped. He was picking up Gina's I'm-gonna-punch-you attitude. They had to break up soon, or it would be too late for sweet little Jack's not-gonna-punch-you disposition.

"It's been twenty years," Gina said absently. "Only twenty years." She took Jack's hand and smiled uncertainly. "It took him three thousand years the last time…"

Trevor cocked an eyebrow. "It only took Hyperion three years." I blushed.

Gina nodded. "That's true."

Rose stared at him, a wild light in her eyes.

"But," Gina mused, "Hyperion was trapped in a tree… so would that make it harder to escape, or easier?"

"You know these stories better than I do, and I'm the one who _told _them to you," Jack complained.

"I listened," Gina said simply.

"You were in love with me. You hung off my every word."

"Don't let it get to your head."

Rose relaxed and grinned. "Too late."

Gina grinned back. "That was actually funny. You get more and more bearable every day, flower."

**A/N: "Yeah, I have to have a nickname for everyone. Gina is Gigi, Rose is Rosie, and Sage is Meanie Bitch Face."** **God, that was vulgar, but I wanted to leave it in there so bad. There was also something funny I wanted to add a little later into the chapter, but it would be a dead giveaway to what's happening next chapter :D YOU OWE ME, DOGGER.**

**Hahaha I watched Titanic today.**

**Rose: I love you, Jack.**

**Jack: I love you, Rose.**

**Fox: BAHAHA**

**GINA WOULD NOT HAVE LET HIM GO D:**

**I love Anthony :x**


	10. Oh No She Did Not Just Say That

**A/N: This will be fun…**

**Right now I'm singing a song that a kid on Glee sang when his bird died and I can't stop laughing just because of what I'm writing.**

"**Lalala singing about dead bird… TEEHEEHEE… dead birds… HAHA light of darkness if that makes any sense… BAHAHAHA…"**

**What I am about to do pains me greatly, and yet somehow, it's hilarious… whatever. Once again, you owe me, Dogger.**

**Nina POV**

When I caught up to Katy the next morning, she was trying to catch up to Gina, who was humming to herself and strutting along as if she owned the world, dark sunglasses covering her eyes.

"Hi Katy, how's it going?" I asked, trying desperately to win her approval back, at least. At least make Katy like me again.

Katy didn't smile like she usually did. "Hi, Nina. Hey, Gina, wait up, will you?"

Gina turned around and grimaced when she noticed me and Katy.

Katy jogged to catch up, and once she did, Gina started walking again.

"Hey, Gina, I'm looking for Jack. He was totally freaking out last night about something – do you know where he is?"

Gina snapped her gum. "Nope."

Katy looked surprised. "Can you check?"

Ah, yes, the empathy link.

"Uh, no," Gina said, seeming kind of nervous.

"Well why not?" Katy stopped walking and put her hands on her hips, looking irritated.

"Well, I haven't seen him since this morning."

"And what happened?" Katy badgered.

"I dumped him."

Holy crap.

If Katy had been drinking anything, she would've spit it out all over her shirt by now. "_You what?_"

"Did I stutter?"

"WHY?"

"Because Adrianna's right. We were much more fun as lovesick puppies."

"Aw, Gina, you know she didn't mean any of the stuff she's been saying lately…"

"Well whether she meant it or not, she was right." She faked a smile. "Don't worry. We're both fine. Trust me."

"If he goes back to Rose, does Anthony get his twenty bucks back from Myrtle and Maia?"

Gina had obviously not considered this possibility. She took a deep breath and spoke slowly, as if Katy didn't quite have a grip on the English language yet. "He… can… do… what… ever… he… wants. Understand, Kate?"

"I wasn't asking about Jack. Does Anthony get his money back or not?"

"That's up to him, I guess."

"Okay, well what if he starts dating Poppy or Adrianna? Then what?"

Katy was playing the jealousy game quite skillfully.

Gina didn't answer, so Katy tried to answer her own question. "Well if he goes back to Rose, Myrtle and Maia owe Anthony his money plus the money from the bet, so he'd get forty bucks. If he and Poppy or Adrianna get together, then I'd think Myrtle and Maia just give him back his twenty bucks as if nothing ever happened, because technically nobody won."

"What about Aiko's money?" Gina snapped, getting tired of Katy's little game.

"It was Anthony who paid." Katy smiled. Then her smile faded. "Gina, what if _I _decide to start dating him?"

Gina looked alarmed. "You wouldn't."

Katy narrowed her eyes.

"Please leave me alone," Gina begged. "Can I just go to my cabin that's not mine and go back to being the bitchy Rhea wannabe?"

"You're not the bitchy Rhea wannabe anymore," Katy said quietly. "You're back to the happy, powerful half-blood who loves her best friend more than anything in the world."

"Yes, I am, and I'm happier that way, so just leave me alone," the daughter of Demeter said desperately.

Katy half-smiled. "Well, I don't know. I'm kind of worried for Jack. Who's gonna be there to smack him when he messes up?"

Gina started walking again, faster this time. Katy didn't follow.

**Nick POV**

"That's _amazing,_" Adrianna sang, delighted. "That's ."

Jack glared at her.

"It's positively gleeful!"

"Adrianna, just stop," Gina groaned.

"I didn't ask you to stand up for me," Jack snapped, turning to her.

"You don't need to. I've been your protection for ten years," she snapped right back.

"You know, when I broke up with my first boyfriend, we were friends for a year after that," Trina said in an attempt to be helpful.

"I think the circumstances are a little different here, Trina," Brigit whispered.

We were all sitting down for breakfast, which, surprisingly, a couple of the half-titans had prepared.

"So you can't cook," Senka had said flatly. Reed stared at us as if we were from another planet. Even Bunny, who was almost thirty-three and definitely should've known how to make at least popcorn by then, shook her head.

"Senka and Reed are surprisingly good cooks for how scary they are," Adrianna said, nibbling on one of Gina's pieces of bacon. Neither Jack nor Gina had eaten anything, and even Katy seemed to have lost a little bit of her appetite.

We were all pretty shocked when Jack and Gina had made a point to sit several seats apart from each other, and when Katy explained what Gina had told her, we'd stared at her as if she had three heads.

Unfortunately, something about the seating arrangements had placed Nina and Anthony across from each other, and they were completely oblivious to us and shooting daggers at each other. Metaphorically, of course. For now.

**Nina POV**

Anthony, of course, caught me after breakfast. "Hey, Nina, I really am sorry I said I hated you."

I didn't turn around, and kept walking. "You're only saying that because Rose told you to."

"Nuh uh. Rose is a moron. No one listens to her."

I grinned. "She's kind of bossy."

"Tell me about it."

I paused and turned around to look at him. I was silent awhile before I said, "So you really think I'm pretty?"

"Oh gods, please don't tell me you remembered that."

"Oh come on, Anthony, no girl forgets it when a guy calls her pretty."

He blushed and opened his mouth to reply, but, as it always happens, someone walked up and interrupted our conversation. That someone, this time, was Bunny.

For once, her interruption wasn't cheerful or funny or anything. Her blue eyes were haunted and even more dead-looking than usual, and her face was a mask of barely concealed horror.

"Anthony… you have to see this."

xxx

"Shut up, Dad. Just go away," Ker snarled.

"You left _Ker _to keep him company?" Katy said, staring at the man standing just outside the entrance to Camp Half-Titan. He had black hair, and the same dark, scary eyes as Ker.

"Call it bonding," Bunny groaned.

"You want bonding?" Ker shouted at her. "I'll give you bonding like you never imagined!"

"Keres, calm down already," her father said, rolling his eyes.

"Don't you use my full name! Only my mom uses my full name!"

"Your mother calls you by your middle name, doesn't she?"

"Yeah. Maria."

Bunny snorted. "Sorry, keep going, keep going."

Ker turned to glare at her. "I have an _aunt _named Maria. I'm named after her, not some freak chick that died most of a century ago."

"I'm confused," I whispered to Anthony.

"That's Hades, Ker's dad," he replied quietly. "He won't hurt you, I don't think. She and her dad… well, Ker doesn't like her dad."

"What's wrong with the name Maria?"

He shrugged.

Gina frowned. "Um – Maria di Angelo, right, Jack?"

That was obviously just an excuse to interact with him, but Jack didn't pick up on it.

He nodded. "Nico's mom. Nico di Angelo was Hades's son."

"If your stupid Fury had gotten Nico and Bianca out of that stupid casino a few years earlier, they'd both still be here!" Ker snapped. "Bianca would've been the prophecy kid. She should've been."

"That was a shot," Anthony murmured to himself. "She's brave, that girl."

Suddenly, a glassy screen appeared between Bunny and Hades. To my surprise, it showed a very disheveled Sunshine with a cat struggling in her arms.

"Your cat…," she managed to gasp out, "is a menace."

Ker grinned. "Hi, Pluto, baby! Are you being mean to Sunshine?"

There was dead silence.

"_What_?" Ker protested. "My mom got me a cat to make up for moving us to The Dead City of Dead People Who Like to Keep You Up at Night."

"Um, Ker...," Anthony said quietly.

Bunny suddenly burst out laughing, and Adrianna was quick to follow. Even Katy cracked a grin.

"Ker, honey." Penelope put an arm around her friend. "You do know… what Pluto is, right?"

"Yeah, he's the cat from The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe. Remember reading that, Nick?"

"Ker, do you remember the mythology nerd from our English class that year?" he said hesitantly.

Ker nodded. "Victoria, right?"

"Well, do you remember what Victoria said about Pluto?"

"Um, that… oh, that Poe had chosen that name because… damn it all."

Nick and Penelope nodded.

Anthony chuckled.

"Any suggestions for new names?" Ker groaned.

"Anthony," Anthony said immediately.

I rolled my eyes.

Sunshine finally turned and saw Hades. She blinked, and when she finally realized who he was, she nearly dropped poor Pluto.

"Hi, Dad," she said quietly.

He grinned. I noticed that he had a great smile, considering he probably didn't smile much, him being a god of death and resented by the world and being married to a homicidal woman who hated him and all.

"Hi, Sunshine," he said. "How are you?"

"My mom's dead," she replied simply. I winced, and felt Anthony cringe beside me.

Hades's face fell. "I know."

"Why couldn't you help her?"

"I don't control who lives and who dies, Sunshine. I'm sorry."

"You could let her go," she pleaded. "I know you can do that."

"I can't make exceptions to the rules, Sunshine."

Sunshine's eyes spat fire. "You mean you can, but you won't."

Ker spoke again, without taking her eyes off her father. "Yes, Sunshine. That's what he means."

Sunshine's face immediately disappeared, and Hades was left staring at an apologetic Bunny.

"You know it's not your fault, Hades. She's young and doesn't understand it."

It bugged me that she put Sunshine across as a child. Yeah, she was twelve, but she'd also lived on the streets with me for two years. A child? Yeah, maybe. But childish, young, naïve? Not on your life.

"She does look like her sister, doesn't she?" the god of death said, still staring at the space where his younger daughter had been.

"Yeah, she does," Bunny agreed quietly. There was a moment's pause before she said, "Oh, Hades, tell the kids why you're here."

Well, it was about time.

The god of death grimaced. "I have bad news. Some of the titans' children have overrun the Underworld. They're headed for Tartarus, and you all know what that means."

Instant uproar. Jack was so shocked that he took Gina's hand, who smiled. Blue sparks shot out of Bellatrix's fingertips, and Ker and Penelope appeared at Nick's side like a couple of bodyguards. Mostly everyone else was glaring at me. Anthony, however, gave me a weakly encouraging smile.

Aiko didn't like that. "Anthony!" Her tone seemed angry, but it was mostly covered by the strained, pleading quality in her voice.

Anthony turned to her with genuine innocence "What?"  
To my shock (and pretty much everyone else's, too), Aiko burst into tears. I could feel confusion radiating from her brother, but his face softened and he went to hug his little sister.

"I don't get why you've always been taking her side lately," she sobbed into his chest. (Aiko didn't have the kind of height advantage that Anthony and I had.) "You tell me Trevor was saying they wanted to free Kronos, and the first thing out of your mouth is that Nina didn't do it. Nina didn't do this. Nina didn't do that. That's all I ever hear. _Ever._"

Anthony didn't reply. Instead, he just stroked her hair while she cried out a lifetime of unused tears, and I watched them, feeling guilty and out of place.

**Nick POV**

"I'm worried about her," Katy said, biting her lip. She, Adrianna, and I were slowly walking back to the Kronos cabin.

I stared at Aiko's form up ahead, with Anthony's arm around her and her shoulders slumped.

"Yeah," I agreed. "It's really unusual for her to break down like that."

"She's got a point, though." Adrianna shoved her hands in her pockets.

"Huge point." I nodded.

"Bunny told me her time in the Theia cabin is taking its toll on her. She's hearing too much psycho weirdo gossip from Ankita."

"You know what's funny," Katy mused, "is that if he actually does love Nina, Aiko's got ten bucks coming to her." I was startled. No one had said anything about love, but hey, Katy was a daughter of Aphrodite and she could be a drama queen sometimes.

"Oh, not another bet," I groaned. Adrianna grinned deviously.

"Yeah, it's Aiko and Rose backing Nina this time. Myrtle and Maia are all for Isolde, but honestly, I think Aiko and Rose have already won. There's no way Maia and Myrtle can recover from Anthony and Nina spending this much time together, and him still sympathizing with her."

"What does it matter who _you _think has already won?" Adrianna teased. "You should've seen your _face_ at Olympus last year when you got up off the ground and Jack and Gina were sucking face."

There was silence for a while before Adrianna said suddenly, "Gods, why did she dump him?"

"My thoughts exactly," I agreed.

"I think she was tired of you, Adrianna," Katy snapped. I nodded.

Adrianna groaned. "I had a point!"

"You're awful," Katy said, fighting a smile.

"I have to make this right, don't I?"

"I don't think you'll need to," I assured her. "By the way they looked after Hades burst our happy little bubble, they'll be together again within twenty-four hours."

"Gina's stubborn," Adrianna said, biting her lip. "And Jack's too proud to go crawling back to her. I wish he would. It would drive her to the brink of insanity to see him desperate."

"I think she broke the empathy link, too," Katy burst out. It took a while for this to sink in. Gina and Jack had had that empathy link since they were seven or eight.

I turned around to look at the entrance to camp, where we'd come from. Most of us were walking back in groups of two or three chattering about Hades's bad news, but I couldn't find Nina.

"Is she still down at the entrance?" I asked, surprised. It had been ten or fifteen minutes since our group dispersed. We were walking slowly.

"Who?" Katy asked, confused.

"Nina."

"Oh. Yeah, probably."

Adrianna nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you remember how long she stayed in the Kronos cabin after Anthony said whatever he said to her." She turned to Katy. "Has he told you what he…" but she trailed off when Katy shook her head.

"It must've made her feel rotten, though," she said. "At dinner they looked like they wanted to leap onto the table and start killing each other." She frowned. "I'm not enjoying this as much as I should, being a daughter of Aphrodite and all."

"You're no ordinary daughter of Aphrodite." Adrianna rolled her eyes. "If you weren't so off-key all the time, and I didn't have a nose ring, I'd think that you were the daughter of Apollo and I was the daughter of Aphrodite."

"Oh, Adrianna, you know you're a daughter of Apollo to your core," I said. "You're a whiz at prophecies. You play three instruments."

"I hate them all," she snapped. "The flute is too cheerful for me, the guitar hurts my fingers, and the violin sounds like a dying moose. I want to play piano."

"Too cheerful for _you_?" Katy snorted. "Adrianna, maybe _you're _too cheerful for the _flute_."

"You can sing as well as Devon, if not better, and you shoot a bulls-eye ninety-nine percent of the time," I continued. "And what's wrong with your nose ring?"

Adrianna smiled. "I'm flattered, Nicky, but you know I already have my eyes on another boy. I'm very sorry to disappoint. And I don't know what's wrong with my nose ring, just that everyone stares at it."

"Yeah, because you're fifteen," Katy groaned. "You're lucky it didn't get infected, doing it yourself like that."

"Hey, I'm not the one who thought it was smart to soothe the affected area with a _lemon._"

Katy scowled and explained, "Well, we were watching _The Parent Trap_, the one with Lindsay Lohan, and in that they pierce one of the Lindsays' ears. Adrianna and I tried to imitate that with her nose. We had different ideas of what the fruit the Lindsays used was."

"So Katy walks in with a slice of lemon in her hand," Adrianna added. "And I thought she was trying to kill me. An interesting new form of torture."

"She climbed on top of her dresser and started screaming," Katy continued.

I laughed, and then there was silence for a while. A lot had gone down those past few days.

"And foes bear arms to Doors of Death," Adrianna finally said simply.

**A/N: Is it just me or were these past couple chapters really long? If I scroll to the top of chapter 9, it's nearly a quarter of the way through the document. Holy crap, it's six pages.**

**Poor Jack and Gina. I mourn the loss of their brief but lovely relationship. God, what moron's idea was it for them to break up? Oh yeah. Mine. Heh.**


	11. Gigi the Stripper

**A/N: Meh! I just tried uploading chapter 11 and is telling me I have a "problem or error" with my document it's like NJSDGHJGBMFDHKJGHF.**

**I've been working fast lately. Bursting with inspiration! Plus, Jack and Gina and Anthony and Nina and Aiko's breakdown are all making great filler. Poor Aiko. **

**I'm listening to music and I swear I just heard the singer say "I HATE THIS SONG."**

**I miss having Adrianna narrate. **

**Nina POV**

I don't know how long I stayed just outside Camp Half-Titan, sitting on a rock, before Aiko, surprisingly, came to find me.

"I'm sorry," she said simply.

I looked up, bewildered. "You're sorry? For what?"

"Well, I'm sorry it bugs me that Anthony likes you so much. I don't have a right to be upset."

"He doesn't like me. He hates me."

"Liar."

"No, really, he said it."

She looked surprised. "Really? _Anthony_?"

"Yeah," I grumbled. "Why's that surprising?"

"Anthony's never hated anyone before. Never." She sat down beside me. "I don't know whether you spied on us or authorized them freeing Kronos or anything, but I do know that my older brother thinks you're amazing, and that's good enough for me."

I wanted to contradict her, but inside sighed and stood up. I held out a hand to her. "Friends?"

She took my hand and pulled herself up. "Friends." Then we heard someone coming up and she turned around.

"Hi, Anthony!" she exclaimed. Then she noticed the pretty redhead next to him – she looked really small compared to him. "Hi, Adrianna."

"I told you she would be here," Adrianna said, with an eye roll.

Aiko's face fell.

"I'm talking about you, so don't get your panties in a bunch." Adrianna rolled her eyes again. "Sorry. I'm tired today. A lot on my mind…" She looked at Anthony. "Before you two start another bawl fest, can I borrow your baby sister for a sec?"

Anthony shrugged, so Adrianna stalked off with Aiko in tow, leaving me, once again, alone with Anthony.

It's a conspiracy, I tell you.

"Do you know what Adrianna needs Aiko for?" he asked. "They're an odd pair to be making secret plans."

I shrugged.

He grinned. "What, are you not talking to me now or something?"

I frowned, and just to prove him wrong, I said, "I'm sorry I made Aiko cry."

He shook his head. "She made herself cry. She's really stressed out."

"About me."

He shook his head again. "About me, actually. I'm a rotten brother."

"You're a rotten person."

"Thanks. That makes me feel better."

"You never told me if you really thought I was pretty or not."

"Yes, I think you're pretty. Happy?" he snapped.

I smiled. "Yeah. I mean, thanks, I guess."

Awkward. I wished I had never asked. I sat back down on my rock, and he sat next to me.

"Do you really hate me?" I asked.

He frowned and thought for a bit. "I'm not sure."

I scowled and pushed him off the rock. "Well, leave me alone, then, if you hate me so much."

He stood up and brushed himself off, grinning. He loped off in the direction of camp. Aiko and Adrianna came back up the hill. Adrianna looked around and glowered.

"Where'd he go?" she asked.

"He left," I replied.

Aiko jogged to catch up with her brother. Adrianna regarded me carefully and then said, "He's a mess, that poor kid. He's never had to work to get a girl." Then she hurried after Aiko. She didn't get far before she turned around and called to me, "Hey, you want to come find Gina with me?"

xxx

We found Gina in the Hyperion cabin, face down in her pillows with a box of tissues and a pack of cookies beside her. Katy was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking concerned.

"Is she okay?" Adrianna asked.

"Go away, Adrianna," Gina said, her voice muffled.

"Aw, Gina," Katy began, but Gina cut her off.

She pulled her face out of the pillows to glare at Adrianna. "I said go away."

"Gina, you look awful!" I exclaimed. Her makeup had smeared, and her mascara had leaked in thin lines down her face. Not to mention that her eyes were red.

"Not news to me, Neens." Oh, not her, too. "I said get out, Adrianna."

"Look, Gina," Adrianna snapped. "This whole mess is your own fault."

"Adrianna," Katy pleaded.

Gina's head fell back onto the pillow. "I don't have the energy to argue with you, Adrianna. Can you do me this one favor and just leave me alone?"

Adrianna contemplated that for a second, then left without a word.

Gina rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "I've decided that my life is officially over."

Katy frowned. "Aw, Gina, you know he still loves you to pieces. One stupid thing isn't going to change that kind of thing. Just apologize."

Gina exhaled. "It's not that easy, Kate." Then her voice went cold and dead. "I've decided how my life will play out. Since I have nothing left to live for, I'll change my name to Gigi, run away to New York, and become a stripper."

Katy rolled her eyes and looked at me, amused.

Suddenly Bellatrix – the little witch staying with Senka and her sisters - poked her head in the door. "Hey Katy, Gina"-I noticed that my name was excluded-"Ker's providing comic entertainment. Come and watch."

xxx

I had never seen anyone as angry as Keres Maria Cabot was while she provided "comic entertainment."

"How could you not tell me?" she screamed. Bunny was looking very frightened indeed while Ker towered over her.

"I didn't know the incantations or anything," she protested weakly.

"No! That's bull. You were _afraid._ What could you even be afraid of?" Then she rose her voice again and turned on Jack and Gina. "And you two knew about this?"

Jack opened his mouth to reply, but Gina tapped his shoulder and shook her head.

"What's going on?" I asked Katy.

"Not sure," she said.

Anthony disappeared from Katy's side and appeared at mine. He didn't have to bend down to whisper in my ear, which clearly annoyed him. "Well, Hades asked Ker if she'd spoken to Freddy yet. Ker flipped out on him, thinking he was kidding, and when he told her how children of Hades can speak to whatever ghost they want to, well… let's just say she's not very happy with Bunny."

"Why?"

"Because when Bunny was little, she was good friends with a son of Hades."

"How did Jack and Gina know?"

"Jack's dad knew the same son of Hades, and Gina can repeat every story Jack has told her, backwards and in her sleep."

"It never worked out right for Nico," Bunny continued, in the same desperate voice. "All he got was a ghost friend and a guilty sister."

"She knows she's wrong," I murmured to myself.

"Yup," Anthony said in agreement.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"You – should – have – told – me," Ker snarled.

"What was I supposed to tell you?" Bunny said pleadingly. "Hey, Ker, I know this thing you can do, but, oh, I don't know how?"

"We could've figured it out! I could just ask my dad, for Zeus's sake."

"Oh, like you would go to your dad for anything!"

"If it would let me talk to Freddy, I would. You know that, Bunny."

Bunny sighed and glanced at Hades, who I hadn't noticed was standing a few feet away from her. "Alright, Hades, time to cash in that favor you owe me."

Hades scowled. "I don't owe you any favors."

Bunny grinned and winked.

**Nick POV**

The creepiest thing about the whole incantation/sacrifice/summoning thing was that Ker was _good _at it. She stumbled over the first few words Hades had told her (which were in Ancient Greek) but then she really got into it, and seemed to be almost in a trance.

Yeah, okay, so a pit filled with Coke and French fries wasn't exactly creepy. But when the creepy ghosty things started gathering to drink, _then _it got creepy.

"This is way freakier than I ever imagined it," Bunny whimpered. She was practically hiding behind Hades, with just her head poking out so she could keep an eye on the spirits.

"Hey, ghosties, lay off," Ker snapped, pausing her chanting. Some of the ghosts backed away at her command, and the others paused enough for one form to drink at the pit and take shape.

Only it wasn't Freddy.

"Well, well, Bunny Parker," the girl said. "I haven't seen you for a long time. You're looking well, considering your age."

Bunny stepped out from behind the god of death and cleared her throat.

"Don't I recognize you from somewhere?" Nina said suddenly, cutting Bunny off. "You look so familiar."

The girl nodded. "Thanks… you took care of my little sister after she lost her mom, didn't you?"

Nina nodded, and Ker took a step back, evidently having realized who the girl was.

"Like I was about to say," Bunny muttered. "This is Her Highness Bianca the Selfish."

Bianca snorted. "Yeah, right, Bunny. You left my little brother to die, and I'm the selfish one."

"_I _left him to die? You-"

"This is Bianca di Angelo, right?" Anthony interrupted.

Bunny and Bianca nodded, and Anthony went back to explaining things quietly to Nina, who looked utterly confused, and she wasn't the only one.

"What's going on?" Ker snapped. "This isn't Freddy, obviously."

Bianca smiled at her little sister. "Sorry. I needed to clear something up for you guys." She nodded her head towards Bunny. "She is a coward. She's a liar."

"I didn't lie about anything," Bunny protested.

Bianca grimaced. "You misled them. What did you say again? Something about Persephone splitting you two up, and oh, poor Nico? Yeah, like that happened. You ran away because you're a coward, and a cheat. You _deserved_ to be stuck in the Underworld for all eternity."

"Like my help would've done any good! Me and Nico versus a goddess? You're delusional, Bianca."

"Bunny, if Persephone had killed a daughter of Apollo and a son of Hades, she would have started a war, and she couldn't afford to do that. A son of Hades, she could afford to kill him, because she knew Hades wouldn't start a war with her." She paused. "And then, you were so afraid of me that you tried to put off Sunshine as some sort of reincarnation of me rather than have Ker call me up for advice. Come on, Bunny, I only met Percy like, twice, and he still knew me enough to tell his son that I wouldn't try for rebirth."

Bunny crept back behind Hades.

"Yeah, run away again!" Bianca shouted. "You would. Just go crawl away behind your friends. You're _weak, _Bunny." Then she looked at Ker and grinned. "Hi, Ker! Wow, Persephone must hate you, doesn't she?"

Ker nodded. "Can I talk to Freddy now?"

Bianca smiled sadly. "Later, okay?" She turned to Jack and her grin lit up her whole face. She seemed very cheerful for a dead girl. "Jack Chase, you look so much like your father, it's almost scary."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," he muttered.

Bianca laughed. "I'm sure you do. Anyway, it was great meeting you all. Nice to see young half-bloods keeping the world from imploding in on itself, I guess. Say hi to Percy for me, if you get the chance. Thalia, too."

Jack nodded, and Bianca disappeared.

**A/N: Okay, that chapter was kind of short compared to the last two, and I would've put a more dramatic ending, but the only endings I could come up with were way too much like Rick Riordan's ending to Bianca's first reappearance after her death.**

**SHE'S SO OOC I WANT TO EAT MYSELF. Gina's back into character, though. You know, except for the random bitchy dumping episode. Poor Jack. He's so sweet and earnest and… ditzy. I love ditzy characters.**

**My friend, the lovely and talented (and Gina-hating) Doggerkiddie, began writing a "fanfic of a fanfic" for HMPWI and HTTRI (I just call it SEQUEL OF HMPWI because I made the title in a hurry and I hate it.) So, I took a quote from her fanfic-of-a-fanfic and wrote an alternate ending to the fanficofafanfic.**

**Gerbil (speaking to Gina): What, have you finally realized how amazing and gorgeous I am?**

**Gina: YES.**

**Jack: D:**

**Gerbil: LET'S GET MARRIED.**

**Gina: YES!**

**Jack: D:**

**I love the way I imagine his face in that scene. Just like, "GINA, NO!" tehehe.**


	12. What a Bloody Liar

**A/N: I'm cold. I want spring to be here already.**

**Quick and totally unimportant fun fact: Gina's full name, Regina, is the Latin and basically English version of the weird random chick "Reyna" from The Lost Hero. Reyna is a variant of Reina, which is Spanish for queen :D **

**Guess who's coming up in this chapter, Dogger…**

**Nina POV**

"Nina, come see this! There's some people you've gotta meet," Trina called.

"Take a demigod with you," Bunny murmured to me so Trina couldn't hear. Her words implied that I could choose who I took, but she shoved Anthony at me, successfully ending that conversation.

Trina pulled Anthony and me along towards a little circle of half-titans, including Senka, Reed, Brigit, and Spencer and Gerard, the two sons of Pallas. I didn't recognize any of the others.

"It's going really well," a Hispanic-looking girl said.

"What Pilar means," the more notable girl corrected with an eye roll, "is that it's going _awesomely."_

Suddenly Anthony gasped sharply, as if someone had punched him in the stomach. He pinched the back of my hand and nodded to a boy standing in the circle. He was really good-looking, with dark brown eyes, darker than Anthony's, and blondish brownish hair, almost like Jack's, except that Jack's was a shade closer to brown and this boy's was clearly more blondish.

"Ouch," I muttered.

"I'll explain later," he whispered.

Pilar, the Hispanic girl who'd been talking earlier, turned to the girl who'd corrected her. She was most notable for her Asian-looking face and long, bright purple hair.

"Yoyo, just let me explain. There's a reason I'm in charge of this mission and not you." She turned back to Brigit. "We're succeeding in the Underworld. We're not sure if Kronos is strong enough to pull together a human form, but we think he can. The demigods will be a problem if they find our camp, though."

"Way ahead of you, Pilar," Trina said, pointing to Anthony.

Pilar looked startled. "Oh, who are you two?"

The blond boy was just as shocked as Pilar, if not more. "_Anthony_? What're you doing here? You're not supposed to be here!"

Anthony gritted his teeth. "Hello, Eric."

The purple-haired girl looked from Eric to Anthony and back again. "You two know each other?"

Anthony chuckled. "Yeah. You could say that."

"We don't have time for this," Pilar snapped. She glared at Eric. "You _will _explain this to me later. As for the rest of you, we've left the others back at our base camp in Asphodel. No one bothers us there. Hades's pathetic skeleton guards are a nonissue. Melissa can take out ten single-handedly."

Reed nodded. "I can believe that."

Pilar jerked her head to Anthony and I without taking her eyes from Reed. "Who are these two?"

Reed grinned. "Oh, the girl is Nina Kincaid – she's one of us. A daughter of Hyperion. The boy is Anthony Luck. A demigod. A son of Aphrodite."

Yoyo snorted. "I didn't know Aphrodite had sons."

Anthony blushed.

"I didn't know there were people named Yoyo," I snapped, on an impulse. Anthony grinned at me.

Yoyo scowled. "It's short for Yolanda. Yolanda Smith. It derives from the Latin word for violet, 'viola.' Don't ask me how." I stared at her purple hair, and thought, _how ironic._

"Did you figure that out before or after you dyed your hair that ridiculous color?" Anthony asked.

Yoyo held her head high and glared up at him. "For your information, this is a color I like to call _Justin Bieber purple_, thereby making it awesome."

"You just totally proved my point," Anthony said, biting his lip and looking as if he was going to explode if he didn't start laughing soon.

Yoyo reminded me of Gina, the way she was looking at Anthony.

"Just ignore him," Senka said softly, putting a hand on Yoyo's shoulder.

"This demigod has no right to hear how our war plans are going," she spat, saying the word _demigod _as if it were dirt.

Pilar looked startled again. "No, no, they're not war plans!" she said hurriedly. She threw out an arm between Yoyo and Anthony. "Don't listen to her. She's kind of overdramatic."

"Or delusional," Anthony muttered.

Pilar smiled. "Really. We don't want a war on our hands. We're freeing Kronos now because he's just strong enough to maintain a steady form, but not strong enough to take on Olympus by himself."

Spencer rolled his eyes. "What Pilar means is that _she _doesn't want a war on our hands. Some of us have other ideas."

"Spencer!" his brother scolded. "Way to blow your cover, Spencer."

"Hey, where's Poppy?" Pilar said suddenly. "I don't know when the last time I saw you without her was, Spence."

Gerard frowned.

Spencer shrugged. "She's pulled a disappearing act lately. Probably off flirting with the new quarter-blood. She heard he's single now and you know how she is with boys." Pilar furrowed her brow in confusion and Yoyo cocked her head when he mentioned "the new quarter-blood."

Anthony glanced at me. "Gina's going to claw her eyes out," he muttered." I nodded in agreement.

"By the way, Nina!" Brigit said suddenly. "I almost forgot – Yoyo here is your little sister."

Yoyo waved cheerfully. I sighed. Only I could get stuck with the nutjob for a sibling.

**Nick POV**

"No way," Gina said, horrified.

Anthony had come back without Nina and explained the whole situation, but he didn't get past the first three words – _Eric is here _– before people freaked out.

We had all mostly forgotten about the "batshit crazy" boy who'd run off after Persephone's defeat last year. I guess we had figured he'd died or something. Apparently, he had survived and made it to Montana. Somehow.

Anthony went on to hurriedly explain that Senka and Reed – who we had generally accepted to be the unofficial leaders of the camp – didn't want a war, and that Pilar, who was leading the group freeing Kronos, was trying to free him in the most peaceful way possible.

"There's no peaceful way to free someone like him," Bunny said, sounding cautious and wise for once instead of cheerful and carefree. "We are on lockdown as of now. We'll camp in the woods just outside of camp. No more contact with any of the half-titans."

Surprisingly, Sage looked more agitated than Anthony or Bellatrix, who had become good friends with Narcissa and Andromeda.

Bunny caught this and raised her eyebrows. "Is that a problem, Sage?"

Sage shook her head.

"You've been acting weird lately, Sage," Rose said, scrutinizing the daughter of Athena. "You've been quiet, and I haven't seen you since you screamed at Gina. Are you okay?"

Sage nodded.

"How many half-bloods are down in the Underworld?" Bunny asked Anthony.

"There are three here, including Eric. Pilar mentioned a few more, but I don't know if they're the only ones. And, oh yeah, Pilar's assistant is a certified nutcase."

"Do you know anyone's Titan parent?" Bunny would make a good detective, the way she was interrogating him.

Anthony thought for a second, then grinned and said," I'm sure most of them, if not all, are children of Pallas, Titan of battle and war and stuff. I know Pilar mentioned that she and Yoyo were daughters of Pallas, and you remember how Eric's a son of Hermes. I wouldn't attack them if I were you." He paused. "Pilar said one of the girls can take out ten of Hades's guards by herself."

Sage looked surprised. "I had heard that Pilar was a daughter of Coeus, Titan of knowledge."

"You must've heard wrong," Anthony replied smoothly.

"Where did you hear that, Sage?" Bunny asked.

The daughter of Athena shrugged. "It must've come up in a conversation sometime." She stared at Anthony for a while before she said slowly, "Yeah. I must've heard wrong."

**Nina POV**

"Wait, he told you what?" I gasped, stunned.

Ker nodded. She'd shown up immediately to let us know that she and the other demigods were being cut off from us, because she and Reed had formed an expected friendship, being the only two in the Menoetius cabin.

"He told us that all the half-titans in the Underworld group were children of Pallas, and he warned Bunny against attacking you half-titans," she clarified. She glanced at Reed. "He was lying, wasn't he?"

"_Why_?" I asked. What an idiot. What was the point of lying to Bunny?

Reed nodded. "Pilar's father is Coeus, like Sage said. Yoyo's a daughter of Hyperion. Anthony's kind of stupid, isn't he?"

"He means well," Ker sighed. "I don't think he realizes how careless Bunny is. Strong fighters opposing her aren't going to stop her. They'd stop Sage, or even Jack, but not Bunny. I think we're going to have a fight on our hands, honestly. The world can't exactly fall to storm or fire peacefully."

Reed frowned. "Hey, Nina, why don't you meet the other half-bloods down there for yourself? Ker, you've got a drachma, right?"

Ker grinned. "Always." She handed him a fat golden coin. "Rainbow, rainbow… where is there a rainbow?"

"Over by the Oceanus and Tethys cabins we have a hose… that'll work, right?" Reed said, walking backwards in the direction of the two cabins.

"Yeah, I think so," Ker replied. "You'd better not waste my coin."

He grinned. "This your allowance from your dad?"

She snorted. "I like to call it _grovel money._"

xxx

"Hi Reed!" one of the girls called cheerfully from the misty Iris Message. "Who're your lady friends, Reed? You dump Senka for one of them?"

Reed blushed. "No. This is Ker, and that's Nina. Ker's a demigod."

"Oooh, ahhh," the girl who'd spoken earlier said sarcastically, unimpressed. "A _demigod. _No one cares, Reed."

"You asked, Melissa." I recognized her name as the girl who'd been able to take out ten of Hades's soldiers on her own. "And anyway, Ker's a daughter of Hades."

Melissa, and the four or five kids behind her, suddenly looked much more interested.

"Anyway, since Nina's one of us and apparently a part of some huge godly prophecy, I figured she should meet you," he continued. "And Ker's good. The demigods have some psychotic leader named Bunny – she reminds me of Yoyo, to give you a comparison."

Melissa cringed.

"Welcome to our little home," one of the boys snickered. "Isn't it just beautiful out here? The dead really are pleasant company." I glanced behind him at the "scenery." The entirety of their camp was surrounded by gray. Everything was gray. Gray ground, gray shrubs, and dead, gray trees. Blue misty figures – ghosts? – passed by, paying no attention to the little campground, which, other than the surrounding area and the scattered weapons, looked like an ordinary camping trip.

"I'm almost insulted," Ker groaned. "You five ran my father out of his kingdom?"

Melissa grinned. "Well, us and Pilar and Yoyo and Eric. But no, there are more of us. We're at scattered camps. Outposts, you could say. We're the core squad, though, the best of the best." She gestured to the rest of her group. "The twins are Danny and Mike – sons of Leto, Titaness of stealth and invisibility. That over there is Richard Garnet, son of Coeus, Titan of knowledge. He's our strategist." The boy with the fluffy brown hair looked up from his notebook and waved. Melissa grinned. "I'm a daughter of Pallas, because I'm cool like that. This is Brandi – daughter of Rhea."

Brandi was a girl with high cheekbones and a dark tanned face. Her elfish but somehow brash features contorted into a twisted grimace. "We _used _to have another girl here – her name was June. She was my older sister. How are Randy and Trina holding up out there?" I faintly remembered Randy, a son of Rhea, from my first few days at Camp Half-Titan, and, well, I knew Trina. It was kind of impossible not to.

"Randy seems… okay, I guess, just a little gloomy. And Trina, well…" He trailed off.

Brandi smiled. "Well, we all know how Trina's doing."

He grinned back. "Richard strategizing you guys well enough?" he asked, turning back to Melissa.

"Yeah, we're doing fine. The loss of June was just a fluke, a random accident. Not anyone's fault."

Reed nodded. "I know you guys better than to think it was anyone's fault."

Melissa was quiet.

"No power struggles between you and Pilar?" Reed pressed. "Nothing out of the ordinary? No helpful ghosts? No sign of Cerberus?"

Melissa cringed. "That's what's worrying me. We haven't seen a hint of good ol' Cerberus, and I'm afraid we're going to very soon."

"So, Richard, make sure you have plenty of methods to deal with that," Reed ordered.

Richard nodded.

_Bunny would know, _I thought. _Bunny or Jack would know, or at least have some ideas._

I'll never quite understand why I didn't say anything.

**A/N: That chapter SUCKED and I hate the ending. Nina's getting way too dramatic. This is like a freaking soap opera or something. Next up on [insert crappy cliché dramatic soap opera name here], Sage and Jack fall in love and then the stupid author realizes that Sage and Jack are related in the same way that Camille and Jack are related. Whoops. Creepy. Good thing I had plans to drive Sage away from Jack anyway (trust me, if she were still into him she would've been all over him the second Gina dumped him), so I don't need to change anything up.**

**I've already kind of started book three. Book 2 is going to be a quick one, partly because the plot is kind of broken up into two sections so I'm splitting it into two different books, but mostly because I hate Nick with a passion and even some of Nina's scenes bug the crap out of me but I don't know what else to write. But basically, I know who the narrator(s?) of book 3 will be and let me tell you, I am **_**thrilled.**_


	13. In the Corner with the Tall One

**A/N: Do you guys think three narrators for book 3 would be too much? I originally had two, then one, then two, now a possible three, because the book is focusing on three very separate locations. **

**I still think it's hilarious every time someone's talking about Jack and Rose, especially now with Gina out of the picture. **

**Nick POV (for once)**

"How many of us are there?" Adrianna asked warily.

We were sitting in the woods. By "we," I mean the younger demigods, which meant Bunny wasn't there.

Penelope, practical as ever, whipped out a pad of paper and a pencil. She wrote down our names.

"There are…"-she paused to count-"thirteen of us here, plus Bunny makes fourteen."

"Seven of us are going to have to sit the prophecy out," Adrianna clarified.

Jack glanced at Penelope's list. "Fifteen here. You forgot Gina."

That took a second to sink in as we looked around our little cluster of people. Gina was always there, loud, always heard, no matter what.

"She's here, right?" Katy asked nervously. "I swear I just saw her."

"I haven't seen her for a while, actually," Anthony replied. More silence.

"Hey, remember when she ditched us to join the Hunters?" Camille said suddenly. "Maybe she left again."

Adrianna tore her phone out of her pocket and dialed quickly. Then she shoved the phone at Jack. "Talk."

Jack glanced at the phone. "No, she'll have turned her cell phone off."

Adrianna glared at him pleadingly. (A little bit of a conflict between the verb and the adverb there, but that's really how it was.)

Jack sighed, then took the phone and dialed again. He waited for a second before he grinned. "Hey, Mrs. Daniels, it's Jack Chase. You remember me, right?" He scowled. "How do you not remember me? Tell Sandi it's Jack Chase. She'll remember me."

_Sandi?_ Adrianna mouthed. Katy shrugged.

"Who the hell…," Bellatrix began, but she trailed off when she realized that no one else had any idea, either.

"Put her on speaker," Adrianna ordered, hands on her hips. "I want to hear who this chick is."

Jack grinned and pushed a button on the phone. "Hey, Sandi, it's Jack. You're on speaker phone with just about everyone who knows your sister."

"'Ello, Jack," she said, as if Jack called her every day. "How've you been? Haven't talked to _you_ since Gina left."

He laughed. "Hiya, Sandi. Everyone, please meet Sandra Daniels, daughter of Gina's dad and step-mom."

"You seem a little old to be Gina's half-sister by her dad," Adrianna said uncertainly.

Sandi snorted. She sounded so much like Gina, it was unbelievable they weren't twins. "Yeah, my dad got married almost right after Gina was born. I'm _twelve. _We just celebrated my parents' fourteenth anniversary. Gina turned fifteen in March." She paused. "I think that's why she left. The transition from her mom to my mom was a little too quick for her."

"Since when does Gina have a little sister?" Katy whispered to Jack.

"She's got two," Sandi corrected. "Me and Marcia – my name ends with an i, and Marcia is spelled M-A-R-C-I-A, even though the C-I sounds like an S-H. But anyway, where's Gina?"

Jack didn't look too surprised, but he looked less hopeful than before. "We don't know. We were hoping she was with you."

"Well, don't worry about her. She's a firecracker, that one. What's the worst that could happen?"

Jack and Katy exchanged a glance. There was no doubt Gina was well-armed with her swords and bow left over from her time as a Hunter, and she was an experienced fighter, but she'd never been entirely on her own. By the time she was out in the world slaying everything that came her way, she and Jack had firmly established the empathy link. None of us had asked Jack, but we all knew she'd broken it.

"Well, thanks, Sandi," Adrianna said, chipper as ever. "She's probably lurking around camp somewhere. See you around."

"Yeah," Sandi replied sarcastically. "Next time you just happen to pass by Vermont, come on up." She hung up, and we were left with the dial tone.

Adrianna laughed. "I love this girl, Jack! How dare you hide her from me?"

"Don't worry, at least we all know she didn't rejoin the Hunters. She likes you way too much to do that, Jack," Katy said, with a clearly fake optimism. She was glaring at Adrianna, whose cheerful mood had suddenly dampened, as if something had just occurred to her.

Adrianna spoke quickly so all the words sounded meshed together. "What-if-she-dumped-Jack-so-she-could-go-back-to-Artemis?"

Jack groaned. "This _sucks._"

Penelope shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. She was more like a mom to Jack than any of us were, and this whole Gina mess was killing her even more than it was killing him. If he was upset, she was being skinned alive, set on fire, filled with rocks, and thrown into a river. That's just how she is.

"So," she said, brisk and business-like as always. "I'm going to ask a question. Those who want to keep with this battle thing, raise your hands."

That girl was going to make a kickass teacher someday.

"Alright," she continued. "Who wants to go up against Nina in a fight?"

We hadn't considered this yet. Not one hand went up, which was the effect Penelope'd been looking for.

She smiled. "Alright, so, remembering that if we fight the Titans we take the chance of hurting Nina, who wants to drop out?"

Anthony coughed innocently and raised his hand, and Penelope just rolled her eyes, muttered "Wow, didn't see _that _one coming," and crossed out his name.

There was a long period of time after that where nothing happened.

Katy slowly raised her hand. "I like Nina. She's sweet."

Ker was disgusted. "Go sit in the corner with the tall one."

Anthony scowled. "I'm not that tall."

"CORNER." Ker's eyes blazed, and Katy practically dragged Anthony over to where Ker was pointing. Wise choice. Ker is downright scary when her eyes get like that.

Penelope was glancing at her list and she crossed off a couple of names. "Well, obviously Gina's not participating. I really hate to assume that she took off on us, but she's done it before."

"She's alive," Ker confirmed. "Definitely very alive."

"Holy Zeus, that helps _so _much, Ker. Please, share more of your profound death god wisdom," Jack grumbled. Ker glared at him, but didn't say anything.

"We're getting off topic," Penelope snapped. "We need to get down to seven, and there's definitely only seven of you out there – six, if we take Bunny into account – that are going into battle no matter what." She paused to count. "Five of you are too shy to drop out. We're not taking control of the prophecy, here. No one's being pressured to raise their hands. Five of you don't want to fight."

Camille blushed and raised her hand. The redness on her cheeks stood out – she looked so pale with her hair such a light blond. "I don't want to fight anyone."

Camryn shrugged and raised her hand. "I'm with her. I've seen enough of what killing does to people."

Everyone turned to glare at Rose. If she didn't raise her hand, _now,_ she was going to be The Evil Bitch for the rest of her life.

"I'm not going," little Bellatrix said, hand in the air. "I like Narcissa and Andromeda, and it'd be a shame for Senka to die – she makes damn good bacon." Ever since Freddy died, Bellatrix hadn't emitted more than two sentences without orchestrating a curse into the mix.

Penelope counted again. "One more." She looked around. "Jack, Rose, Aiko, Adrianna – one of you is dropping out."

"Only one?" I looked around, too.

"Yeah," Sage muttered. She was leaning against Anthony (they looked funny next to each other – Anthony always looks funny standing with girls as tall as him, not as funny as five-foot-tall-Jack, though), standing by the "corner" tree. I hadn't even noticed her raise her hand.

Attention returned to Rose. Actually, we were so expectant of Rose that we didn't even notice a hand raised until a loud, clear voice said, "Yeah, okay, you win. I'm out." And Aiko Luck grudgingly strode over to join her brother.

"You owe me for this," she muttered. "Go win that bet for me."

"Yeah, because he's so incredibly attracted to Isolde," Rose said sarcastically, grinning. "We have this in the bag."

"Poor, devastated, Isolde," Anthony muttered. Rose laughed, then realized that everyone was still glaring at her.

"What?" she snapped.

"You should've been the one to drop out, Rose," Jack said quietly.

Rose's face reddened. She hates being criticized by boys, especially Jack, because he was her toy for so long, and he never criticizes anyone anyway. "You know I like to fight. And what's even better, I'm _good _at it."

"And you had to demonstrate it on my little brother's throat," Cam growled. "I'd much rather tear you to pieces than give that Nina chick a nice drowning, and that's saying something, because it's going to take everything I've got to not eat her face."

Rose fell silent again.

**A/N: Ohmygosh that ending sucked but I'm so excited! For almost a week or two now, hasn't been letting me edit my stories and now IT'S LETTING ME EDIT MY STORIES so I can publish like these last FOREVER-LONG chapters.**

**Holy crap that chapter was entirely Nick POV… who am I and what have I done with Fox.**


	14. Nick Finally Does Something

**A/N: I'm just clearing this up **_**right now**_**: "Neens" is not going to become a regular thing. I respect Nina way more than that.**

**UGHHH I want to start book 3, like, NOWWWW. Nina's pissing me off now, too. I should kill off her and Nick. Actually, technically I have already started it but not anything crucial, just a little beginning stuff.**

**Everyone remembers who Eric is, right? He was the one who Persephone left back at camp while she went to Olympus with Bunny – Jack replaced him and then Gina had a fit. He never showed up back at camp and voila, here he is.**

**I hate Nick. I KNOW he doesn't do anything, but really, this is all I can do to even put up with him. That's why I've been writing more quickly than usual lately – I hate Nick and I keep thinking "If I can just finish these last couple chapters, I can move on to my peepsicles in book 3." 'Cause SERIOUSLY, the narrators for book three are total epicsauce. Pretty much my dream team.**

**Nina POV**

"Who's this Bieber-hater kid Reed says you like?" Yoyo said, flopping down on the bed across the cabin from me.

I shut my book slowly. "_Bieber-hater?_"

She scowled. "Fine! Who's the tall guy with the brown hair Reed says you like?"

"That's Anthony. He's an idiot."

"Ha! I win!"

Trevor glared down at her. "Shut up. I win for having faith in Nina's sensibility."

I stared at them.

Yoyo giggled. "Trevor and I made a bet. I said you'd know who I was talking about if I asked who the guy you liked was."

"He's an idiot!" I exploded. "He lied to Bunny and now she's going to attack us anyway and then kick his ass when she finds out you're a daughter of Hyperion, not Pallas."

"Right after we kick hers." Trevor grinned cockily.

Yoyo smirked. "Exactly." She slid off the bed and sat on the floor. "We're gonna win. We're not limited to seven."

"Personally, I'm kind of afraid of even just seven of them. If Gina's not on the front lines, then Bunny's an idiot. That girl scares the crap out of me," Trevor said with a shudder.

"Gina's off doing whatever Ginas do," Yoyo said absently, staring at the ceiling.

Trevor and I stared at her and said incredulously, "_What_?"

"Gina left, 'cause she's a pussy."

"_Where?_"

"I dunno."

Trevor and I finally stopped speaking in unison. "Who told you that?" I asked.

"Senka. Says she's got a spy over there."

What an idiot.

I swore.

xxx

"Of course Anthony's not my spy," Senka said, not taking her eyes off the paper she was reading.

"Liar," I snapped.

Senka's head snapped up and she glared into my eyes with those hazy gray eyes of hers. "Anthony. Luck. Is. Not. My. Spy. Do you believe me now?"

I relaxed and nodded. "Who, then?" We all knew Anthony was an idiot, but who else was stupid enough to spy on the demigods?

"Oh, the other girl who was staying with you, not Rose. What's her name, the angry-looking blonde."

I was startled. "Gina?"

"Don't think so. Sage something?"

"Sage Harman?"

"Yeah, her."

"_Sage Harman_?" It clicked in my brain what she was saying and I gaped at her. Sage was a daughter of Athena, super-genius and supposed to be wise.

"I _just _said that."

"But… _why_?"

"I think she likes Gerard. You remember him, right? The smart son of Pallas, the blind one."

I nodded.

"It's kind of ironic," she mused. "She and Poppy are so similar – they almost look alike, even. But one of them went for the genius, and the other one went for the brawny one."

I smiled, surprisingly relieved and then stressed because I was so relieved. Sage I could handle. She was a witch, like Poppy. "Thanks, Senka."

She sipped something that looked like coffee, and it occurred to me how tired she looked. "Anytime, Nina."

**Nick POV**

"You're going ahead with this anyway?" Anthony protested. "But, Bunny…"

"No buts," she snapped, fixing her hair in one of her rare ponytails with her hair elastic/bow, the one Katy had used while Bunny was gone. "I don't know where Gina is, but she's going to get hell when I find her, because we're at a much bigger risk without her and she knows it."

Needless to say, Bunny had decided to go ahead with her war plan.

"If we lose and you pin it on Gina, Jack's going to kill you, you know that, right?" Katy said.

"I don't care," Bunny replied sharply. "He's Percy's son. I could handle Percy, and I can handle him."

Liar.

Katy and Anthony looked doubtful, but didn't say anything.

"It's a shame you can't come along, Anthony," Bunny continued, checking her hair in a little mirror she'd borrowed from Katy. She clearly didn't know that Anthony had been the first to offer _not _to go along. "Thanks for deciding who's going, though. Makes my life easier. Who's going again?"

"Jack, Adrianna, Penelope, Nick, Ker, you, and Rose," Katy recited.

"Pisses me off that Gina's not coming," Bunny muttered. What Anthony had said about the half-titans in the Underworld all being children of Pallas had caught her off guard somehow. She seemed nervous. I wasn't sure why – she was attacking the camp, not the raiding parties in the Underworld.

We all knew that on a good day, Gina could take on two half-bloods at once and totally whip them. She wasn't great with long-range people, though, because her biggest tactic was to lock someone in place with her super-plant-powers. Adrianna beat her two times out of three, which obviously annoyed her to no end.

"Why are you so caught up on Gina being gone?" I asked. It was suspicious, how she was mad about our lack of Gina.

She didn't answer, just smoothed a bump in her hair. Katy and Anthony exchanged a glance.

"She's mentally deranged for sure," Adrianna said, poking her head in the tent. Ever since Bunny had cut off our contact with the half-titans, we'd been staying in tents issued to us by a very exasperated Senka. I didn't blame her. If I had to play diplomat with Bunny, I'd be exasperated, too.

"Who?" Bunny asked, glancing at her younger half-sister.

"Gina. To dump a catch like Jack? I wouldn't in a million years."

"Oh, shut up, Adrianna. She only dumped him because you were being a total whore," Bellatrix's voice called from outside the tent.

"Is 'whore' a curse?" Anthony whispered to Katy.

She winced. "Well, it's progress, at least."

"Progress my ass," Bunny retorted. "That girl will be my age by the time she stops cursing."

Adrianna ignored them. "Speaking of Jack, where is he?"

"I'm not telling you," Bellatrix snapped again. "You'd go find him and… be a whore. How am I supposed to know what whores do in their free time?"

"Hey, remember last time we couldn't find Jack right before a battle?" Anthony said suddenly.

Katy nodded hesitantly.

"That was because of Gina, too," Bunny said quietly.

"Yeah, except it's her fault this time!" Adrianna growled.

"Okay, you guys need to lay off," Camille called from who-knows-where. "Jack's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he makes a few more mistakes than his dad did"-Bunny gritted her teeth at that-"but he learns from those mistakes. That's what makes him and Gina different. He learns, she doesn't."

"Yeah, and like that's their only difference!" Camryn snapped sarcastically.

"_You _need to lay off, too, Cam," her sister argued.

The twins kept bickering, and Katy sighed.

"This tent is killing me," Anthony muttered. He unzipped the part of the door not occupied by Adrianna's head. "Move it, Powers, I'm in a crappy mood."

"Touchy," Adrianna commented, but stepped out of his way.

"I'm dying in here, too," Katy said. She strolled out of the tent, too, then poked her head back in. "You coming, Nick?"

I followed her out and left Bunny, who was still fixing her hair and glaring into the mirror like it was magic and had just told her that Adrianna was prettier than her.

xxx

I thought Katy was going to melt into a little pink mess of relief.

We'd found Jack sitting on a rock, just having hung up Adrianna's cell phone, which he'd been carrying around lately.

Katy sat beside him. "Trying for Gina again?"

He nodded. "Her cell phone this time."

No sooner had he handed the phone back to Adrianna (who dropped it onto the grass) then the phone started playing "Like a Virgin" by Madonna.

I would've thought Katy or Jack would've laughed at Adrianna for her ringtone choice (though, looking back on it, they were probably used to it) but the two of them, along with Adrianna, dove for the phone.

Jack reached it first. "Hello?" he said excitedly. Then his face fell and he said, "Oh, hi, Lucy."

There was a collective groan.

"Sorry, we were just expecting someone else," Jack continued. "I'll put Adrianna on now."

Adrianna took the phone, still looking disappointed. "Sorry, Mom. We haven't seen Gina for a couple days." She listened for a minute, then turned to us and mouthed, _She wants to talk to Bunny. _"Sure, Mom, just give me a sec." She covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "BUNNY!"

Bunny strolled into the little circle of trees, waved to us cheerily, and took the phone from Adrianna's outstretched hand.

She listened to Lucy before her mouth fell open and she said, "Oh, gods, Lucy, please. I'll do anything, just _not that_." She groaned. "You know how he is, Luce… he'll eat me. He doesn't even like me to begin with!" She thrust the phone at Jack, holding it with her thumb and first finger like it was a dirty sock. "_You _talk some sense into her!"

Jack listened as Lucy explained what she'd been telling Bunny. "Oh, Lucy, that's really not necessary. I'll be okay. Thanks, though. Bye."

He hung up. "She wanted Bunny to call my dad." He grinned, glancing at Bunny, who was shaking like a Chihuahua stuck in the rain. It was kind of a surprise – she acted so defiant whenever anyone mentioned Percy Jackson. She wasn't defiant at all. She was scared crapless of the guy.

Bianca was right. She was a coward.

This realization, of course, hit me hard, because she was driving us into a battle that she knew we couldn't win.

Is it possible to be both arrogant and cowardly?

xxx

I explained my epiphany to Katy and Adrianna. Neither of them was bothered much.

"Don't worry, Nick, we've got it covered," Katy said, exchanging an amused glance with Adrianna.

"Bunny's kind of off her rocker," Adrianna laughed. I didn't like that they found this so funny. Wasn't this my prophecy? Wasn't I supposed to be involved somehow?

"Adrianna and I are keeping Bunny in check, so don't stress," Katy assured me. "You weren't at Olympus last time we fought an enemy, so you don't know how we had a plan we kept secret from Bunny."

Oh. So that was it. I hadn't participated in Katy and Adrianna's last battle – and what was that battle called, anyway? – so I wasn't trusted as entirely competent with this one.

I'd show them, or something else that sounds less cliché.

**A/N: Okay so I'm leaving for school in like ten seconds…**

**Okay, well, nevermind that. My mom started yelling at me and so now it's like 3:30 and I got home forever ago. **

**I'm totally a masochist or something because I'm basically setting up for a total failure in book 3. I'm pretty sure I know who I want to narrate, and they're the three characters who I'm **_**most **_**concerned about, Mary-Sue-wise.**


	15. Subtlety Fail Number Two

**Nick POV**

"Here are your car keys, Bunny. Thanks."

Bunny stared at the set of keys in her hand and then turned to look at Anthony, who was already loping away nonchalantly. "Anthony, where did you get my car keys?"

He froze for a second, then turned around and shrugged. "You left them lying around somewhere."

"Why did you need my car?"

Of course, Jack picked that moment to come walking up. "Hiya. Bunny, what's wrong?"

Bunny glared at Anthony while he stood there with an expression that said he was clearly unwilling to tell her what he'd been doing.

"Where've you been, Anthony?"

"Out."

"Out where?" Jack piped up.

Anthony tensed up like Jack was going to stab him or something.

"Oh, gods," Bunny groaned, just as soon as I caught on. "It involves the _stupid girl._"

"Look, you expect me to say that in front of him?" Anthony snapped, gesturing to Jack. Jack looked puzzled, because Jack just isn't good with reading between the lines.

Bunny narrowed her eyes. Anthony cocked an eyebrow.

"I can go like this all day, Bunny," he said. "_I_ don't have to go fight a battle that's my fault in the first place."

Bunny kept her eyes on him, which was pretty funny, since he towered over her, and I'm not exaggerating.

"Hey Jack, we'll be back in a second, okay?" she said. Then she wiggled her fingers at us in one of those teenage-girl-ish waves that Adrianna does when she wants to drive Gina crazy, except that Bunny didn't have some overdramatically flirtatious aura about her.

"Where do you think he went?" Jack asked me, still looking puzzled.

_I don't know, but the twenty in my pocket says it involves _your _melodramatic girlfriend, _I thought. _Sorry. Ex-girlfriend._

Yeah, ex-girlfriend, for about another week, tops.

**Nina POV**

"What's wrong, Neens?" Yoyo teased. "You scared?"

"Not funny, Yolanda," I snapped, pushing another pointy-ended bobby pin into my hair. "Just in case you need to poke someone," Senka had said.

I hadn't really understood what my role was until the moment she'd handed me a handful of sharpened bobby pins (don't even ask me where she gets this stuff.) Now I got it.

I was the prize. I was the fire. If I went down, we lost. If Nick went down, we won. Simple. Just stay alive. Easier said than done, and I was really stressed. Determined, but on the verge of freaking out.

Yoyo, of course, was not.

"Dude," she groaned. "Don't call me Yolanda. Just don't. That name _sucks._"

"Wishing your mom had named you Justine?" I quipped. Her Justin Bieber fetish was becoming increasingly apparent.

"Dude."

"I'm just saying."

"I'm going to take a nap. I suggest you do as well."

I looked out the window. It was still dark out. I hadn't been able to get a wink of sleep that night, so now I was exhausted.

Yoyo sprawled out on her bed and opened one eye to glance at the clock. It was five in the morning.

"Good morning," she said sleepily.

I smiled and flicked out the light, having effectively removed all of the pins just after I finished perfecting their positions. "Good morning, Yoyo."

I think I fell asleep in my jeans.

xxx

"Finally!" Poppy said, looking frustrated. "We've been waiting for you, like, _all night._"

She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me further into gray nothingness. Adrianna says that's what the dream world is like, if you just need to talk to people. There's no scenery, no backdrop. Just vacant, sea-foam gray space. Maybe everyone sees something different. Maybe Adrianna sees a sunny field. Maybe Rose and Katy see hearts and doves and roses (no pun intended, Rose, and it was a bad pun anyway.)

The man from my first dream – I'd figured out by now that he was Prometheus –was waiting for us.

"Welcome, Nina," he said warmly.

What the hell are you doing disturbing my sleep. I wanted to add a few more four-letter words about how I had an f-ing battle later today and if you don't mind I'd like to get some f-ing sleep so I'm not f-ing falling over while Nick f-ing runs me f-ing through.

I'm only vulgar when I'm tired.

Instead, I said, "Uh, can I help you?" which still sounded kind of bratty and obnoxious anyway, but he couldn't blame me.

"It just occurred to me that you have zero idea why a daughter of Hyperion is the fire," he replied, ignoring my mood.

"Hyperion is the Titan of fire," I responded automatically.

"No," Poppy interjected, rolling her eyes as if I was totally hopeless, which I probably was. "Hyperion is the Titan of light."

"So who's the Titan of fire?"

"There isn't one, stupid."

"So then why…"

Poppy looked like she was going to retort, but Prometheus cut her off. "Tamaya and I were good friends even before your birth. That's how she met your father. Hyperion, well, he's never been the most committed toward relationships."

I didn't get past the first word. I was going to explode. At the mention of my mother, I wanted to burst into tears and run into the woods and beg Anthony or Aiko or anyone else who could drive and wasn't brainless to take me home, but I didn't even know where my home was anymore. My mom had died and I had left, that was all there was to it.

Instead I nodded robotically, pretending to understand.

"Hyperion left your mother about a month after you were conceived. I helped her with all the Titan details, and I helped her raise you for about two years. I named you Phaedra, not Hyperion, and your name has no relation to the blasted daughter of Minos." He rolled his eyes. "Believe it or not, in Greece, there was _more than one _Phaedra."

I stared at him, struggling to process the information. I wanted home. I wanted my mom. I wanted something, anything, just something solid to hold on to. Everything on Earth was changeable and fluid. I hated it. I needed to be able to say that something was there, something was there and always would be. That's why I like math. When something doesn't work in math, it just _doesn't work_, and that's that.In English, or creative writing, different things work for different people. I don't have anything that I can say "In writing, this is _impossible_." Art is the same way, but I like art.

I remembered how Gina and Katy had exchanged a glance whenever Jack said something was impossible. Maybe he had a point. Maybe he was like me, just needing something he could wrap his brain around.

It kind of unnerved me that my father had never even _met _me. He hadn't cared enough to even nudge me toward Camp Half-Titan. I remembered how it had been Prometheus who'd brought me here, not Hyperion.

"When you were born," Prometheus continued, "I blessed you the day you were born."

Sounds corny, but okay.

"I still don't get it," I said. If there's no Titan of fire, no one can bless me and have me come out as fire.

"Oh, gods above, she's _so _stupid!" Poppy threw up her hands in defeat.

I struggled to remember Prometheus's role in the myths. I hated Greek mythology.

Poppy stared at me like I was from the Stone Age. "_Nina, _for heaven's sake. Do you remember who brought fire to mankind?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Yeah! You brought fire to people! And then the eagle, like, ate your organs or something."

Prometheus winced. "Yes, that."

"So Prometheus is as close to fire as we get," Poppy explained, looking pleased.

"So I'm the fire because I'm blessed by Prometheus!"

Poppy grinned, and it looked genuine to me. "The name Phaedra means _bright, _Nina."

And then the dream faded, and after my pride wore off, I felt the ache tugging at my heart from the memory of my mother.

**Nick POV**

By the time we were standing at the edge of Camp Half-Titan facing a little group of half-titans about ten yards away, we were all nervous wrecks, which wasn't the best way to fight a crucial battle.

Luckily, Nina didn't look too confident either, but she had nothing to worry about. We all knew that whatever we thought of her, we couldn't kill her, or Anthony would run us through and eat us for lunch.

The half-titans they'd brought along were Senka, Reed, and Nina, of course, plus Eric, and two half-titans that Anthony said were Yoyo and Pilar. I wasn't sure which was which, though.

"Of course they brought six," Rose muttered. "Show-offs." She flexed her shoulders, looking a little unnerved.

"Let's skip the formalities, Bun-bun," Senka said icily. No matter how nice she seemed sometimes, she would always be an ice queen at heart, and she could really work that when she wanted to.

"Let's," Bunny agreed cheerfully. Bunny, on the other hand, hadn't grown up mentally at all in the Underworld, and she was tiny, so she would be easy picking for Senka and Reed, who, by the way they were standing, were clearly a tag team in this kind of thing.

Senka slunk into a half-crouch, like a hunting cat, and grinned cockily. "You ready for this?"

Uh, no.

Bunny sneered. "Ready when you are."

Senka's grin widened, and the battle was on.


	16. A Longer Fight Scene than Last Time

**Nick POV**

Rose and Adrianna, as expected, were the first ones to spring. They were so alike, but so different. It was interesting. You could tell that they both had an eye on Jack, though, who was doing pretty well with the slightly Asian girl with the purple hair. Gina would have killed them both.

None of the other demigods had come to watch – Senka hadn't trusted them to stay out of the fight – so I was envisioning Katy and Anthony back in our tents. I felt sorry for them. They must've been freaking out.

The brown-haired girl – either Yoyo or Pilar – stared at me intently and sauntered up to me as if everyone around us wasn't trying to kill each other.

"You're Nick Acres, aren't you?"

"Um, yeah," I stammered.

She smiled slyly, and her aura of nonchalance faded immediately. "I'm Pilar Montoya, and I'm here to kill you."

I loosened and tightened my grip on the handle to my sword repeatedly, while Pilar flipped out a knife and shifted it so the blade faced me.

She rushed at me, and instinct kicked in. I parried her first blow, and responded with one of my own. She twisted out of the way – these Titan kids were good. I glanced around for Bunny, assuming that Reed and Senka had ganged up on her. She wasn't anywhere in sight. Reed and Senka had Rose cornered, but I knew she'd be okay, and anyway, I didn't really care.

My slight hesitation was all Pilar needed. She jabbed again, but, just because of my dumb luck, missed my left arm by an inch or so. She cursed, stumbling. I swung again, connecting with her right shoulder.

She narrowed her eyes, pausing to assess whether or not I was worth getting any further injuries. She shrugged quickly, half to herself, and flipped her knife to face me again. Before I could react, she aimed for my left arm again. What was her left-limb obsession? I wasn't even left-handed.

This time, she didn't miss, and Celestial bronze met skin. I managed to dodge enough that it wasn't serious, just a nuisance. I knew from years of practicing battle moves with Penelope, Freddy, and Ker that a nuisance could distract you enough to get you killed.

I gritted my teeth and tried a new tactic that had been the downfall of Penelope countless times: aim for her weapon, not her body. She – Pilar, Penelope, anyone – wouldn't expect you to aim there, and after her knife is gone, she's powerless.

I focused on her knife and swung. Like I'd thought, she wasn't prepared for that, so the knife fell into the soft grass at her feet – a little less dramatic than the knife-flying-away effect I'd imagined, and much less effective.

Her weapon was back in her hand in seconds. She sneered and poked at my left arm again – lower this time – and just as I pulled up my sword to deflect her blow, she pulled away and sliced the skin on my right arm instead.

I couldn't try to aim-for-weapon trick again, she was too smart to fall for it twice. But I did realize something: Pilar wasn't aiming to kill me. She was buttering me up for someone. So who was really aiming for me? I glanced at Yoyo, who was still giving Jack a hard time. He was completely capable, though – you try being raised by a couple of Greek weapon masters and not being deadly with a sword. Your dad's sword, no less – renamed so it's a little more vulgar and much less respectable.

Pilar took advantage of my pause to take a break of her own. She evaluated the rest of the demigods, while I scanned for the half-titans. Reed and Senka were still sparring with Rose, but Adrianna had finally given in and gone to help her.

Nina and Eric hadn't shown up yet, but I was more worried about Eric than Nina. After another moment or two, I noticed Nina. She was trying to seem invisible behind her wall of protection – the half-titans. Ker and Penelope were just hanging around, too, watching me closely to see if they needed to jump in, but Penelope's gaze darted to Jack every few minutes.

So now we were just missing Bunny and Eric.

Pilar had slunk away while I wasn't paying attention. I scowled. It had been kind of fun to fight someone for real, and it took my mind off the stinging in my arms. I strolled to more of the center of the clearing, where Reed Winston met me, fierce smile glinting and red-tinted brown eyes glittering in the sunlight.

Reed was holding a knife similar to Pilar's – sparkling, polished Celestial bronze and deadly sharp.

He wasn't one to hesitate. He was rash, and rash was a good way to be sometimes. Not often, but sometimes. This may or may not have been one of those times, depending on your perspective.

He stabbed at me, and then a girl was in his way – a girl with a black sweatshirt with the hood up, a girl you couldn't miss, a girl who'd never been able to do much with a weapon, a girl who'd have distracted Nick if she'd been hurt, which was key.

And then the world exploded, and Penelope screamed.

**A/N: Dogger, I can so see all that is light fly out of your world right now. **

**Okay, I'm going to make THIS author note short and sweet, because I'm hesitant to put author notes in dramatic moments. It just tones down the chapter, you know?**

**Sorry. Short chapter.**

**Yes, Nick is copying some earlier words of Nina's, so that's why the second to last paragraph sounds familiar.**


	17. Death Girls can Die too, Apparently

**A/N: I made Sims for all my characters in The Sims 3 and Nina's husband (not telling you who, but I'm pretty sure most of you guys have figured it out by now) left her for Bellatrix. I just thought I'd share that with you guys. **

**I am soo sorry for the crappy fight scene with Pilar and Nick. I'm such a nonviolent person (though I envision myself punching people on a daily basis, especially this one guy in my math class who's really nice and funny but he just understands what we're doing and so he makes me feel stupid. "The answer is…" *PUNCH*) Actually I sat behind him yesterday (it's Dogger's fault) and I asked him if -1 would work for this thing and then he said no and I went and tried to figure it out and then I said it would work and as I was saying "But wait wouldn't negative one work for…" and then I realized that he was right and I will never doubt him again. **

**But anyway, enough of my mental capabilities or lack thereof. On to the dramaness.**

**Nina POV**

Senka was the first one to say anything

"Reed," she said, covering her mouth in a half-shocked, half-pitying expression. "Oh, my god, Reed…"

It hadn't been Reed's fault, it really hadn't. He was going for Nick – we all were. He'd had a great shot at Nick, but he hadn't checked to make sure Nick's bodyguards were busy. Ker had been in the way about ten seconds too late for Reed to pull back the knife, and it buried itself in her chest.

It wasn't like any of those dramatic death scenes, where the dying whisper their goodbyes to the world. She was just dead, that was it. Dead before she hit the ground.

Penelope's banshee scream turned into a dismayed wail about halfway through. The entire battle stopped as Penelope… I didn't even know what she was doing. It was some mixture of grief and anger; she was hurt enough to cry, but just angry enough to stay on the verge of tears.

Nick stared at Ker – or Ker's body, rather – with his mouth open and his lightning-blue eyes wide. He just stared, like he couldn't figure out what had just happened.

Reed was the worst, except for maybe Penelope. He looked similar to Nick, except that he knew what had happened. His mouth hung open in horror even as Senka came up from behind and put a hand on his shoulder. He was shaking, and his knife was still in Ker's chest. He hadn't bothered to take it out. He looked like he didn't want it back. I remembered how he and Ker had gotten along so well, like two peas in a pod. She was a fast friend for him, friend enough to sneak back into camp to help him out. Even Anthony hadn't come chasing after me, but Ker didn't care what Bunny said. She was going to help her friend, whether Bunny liked it or not.

And in return, he'd killed her.

Senka's words set everything in motion again.

The rest of the half-bloods – half-titans and demigods alike – responded together. Yoyo and Pilar gaped at Reed and Ker and Nick, weapons and fight with Jack long forgotten. Adrianna and Jack stared, shocked, while Rose whimpered as tears trailed down her cheeks in two thin lines.

At first, I was confused as to why she was so upset. Then it came to me. She knew exactly how Reed felt, and she knew exactly what he was going to get for as long as he knew Nick and Penelope.

Penelope grabbed her sword from where she'd dropped it on the ground and held it the way Pilar had held her knife – believe me, we'd all been watching Nick and Pilar – with one of the sharp sides pointed towards Reed.

"You were wrong," she snarled, voice shaking. "You were wrong, Reed Winston. It wasn't her oath, it was mine, and I'm not letting her die for it."

"What're you talking about?" Senka asked, voicing my thoughts. Reed was still staring at Ker.

Penelope didn't answer. She took the sword in both hands and held it like a baseball bat, and Reed's neck was the baseball.

Senka hadn't reacted much, but her own knife was by her side, ready to deflect a blow from Penelope if she needed to. Reed hadn't even noticed Penelope trying to kill him. He was totally absorbed in what had just happened and what he'd just done.

Penelope had just started to prepare to swing when Nick finally snapped out of it and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Penn, stop it."

Penelope whirled around, tears in her eyes. "Nick, he killed her. He killed her, you saw it. He killed her."

Nick glanced back at Ker. "Yeah, he killed her, didn't he?" he murmured. "Penn, you know she would've skinned you if you killed him in return. You know that. If it had been anyone but Reed, you could kill him, but it isn't anyone but Reed."

Reed finally stopped staring at Ker and lifted his head to stare at Nick instead. "Thank you," he said hoarsely, as if he hadn't used his voice in a long time and it was a little rusty. "I didn't mean to kill her, you know that…"

"Save it," Nick snapped. Then he turned back to his sister. "Penn, come on. You know that killing more doesn't solve anything. If we killed Reed, then Senka would have the decision you have now, and it would just go in circles until someone was finally human enough to stop it, and Penelope"- he stared at her intently –"you and I both know that Senka isn't going to be that person."

Senka nodded, her motions much more fluid than Reed's or Nick's. She hadn't known Ker. None of us half-titans had, really, except for Reed. Nick wasn't saying that Penelope or Senka was inhumane or anything like that, just that she wouldn't pass up the chance to avenge Reed, as corny as that sounds.

Penelope's hands shook on the sword handle and silent tears spilled out of her eyes, but she kept her weapon in position.

"Penn," Nick said softly.

"Stop it," Penelope begged, shutting her eyes tightly. "Let me kill him. Please, just let me kill him. And for Zeus's sake, Nick, if you call me Penn one more time I'm going to kill Rose, too. Freddy named me Penn. Freddy came up with that name. That was Freddy's name for me, not yours and not Ker's and not Camryn's and not Camille's."

Something in the look on Nick's face broke, the reminder of Freddy and the loss of Ker coming together to bring whatever walls he'd had crashing to the ground.

"Hey, where's Bunny?" Jack interrupted suddenly.

That shut us up. I hadn't seen Bunny for the entire battle, and I'd been watching the demigods like a hawk. I knew I hadn't missed her. She'd just… disappeared.

One glance from Jack, and Adrianna knew what to do. She nodded curtly, dropped her arrows, and jogged into the woods in the opposite direction of camp.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" he snapped at the rest of the demigods. "Get going. Except Penelope. Penny, you can do whatever you want. Don't worry about Bunny, we'll handle her."

"Hang on a sec, Jack," Nick said smoothly. "I want to talk to Nina."

Jack nodded at him and took off after Adrianna. Rose followed, a little more rigid than Jack, like she was forcing herself to move.

Nick stared at me silently and I followed him into the woods. He sat down on the grass; I sat on a rock nearby.

"I'm sorry about Ker," I said automatically.

He tensed. "It's… not your fault. And I'm sure… I'm sure she'll be happier in the Underworld with Freddy than she ever was in New York without him."

"They were really close, weren't they?"

"They were the tightest pair of friends I've ever seen." He pondered that for a minute. "Except Jack and Gina, but Ker and Freddy were always just friends and nothing more."

There was silence for a while, until he laughed bitterly and said, "I should have let her kill him."

"Who?" I looked up, confused.

"Penelope. I should have let her kill Reed. No, I should have killed him myself. I wish I had. Wish I'd made him suffer, or something. Maybe killed Senka first, then him." He looked at me helplessly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't drag Senka into this."

I tried to think of something to say, scanning through all the normal things people say when people die. _At least she died quickly, she's in a better place now, she lived a good life, she wouldn't want you to grieve._

I would've said all of these things, but I remembered exactly how much they helped. I remembered how my world spiraled out of control after my mom's car accident, and how all the condolences I'd received had just made me want to burst into tears all the time. When someone's dead, they're dead, and you can't make that right no matter how many times you tell someone not to grieve.

And suddenly, I wanted to know Ker. I wanted to know her like I'd wished people had known my mom – her name, her age, her life, her story, her world. I wanted people to know more than that her name was Tamaya Kincaid and she had a weird little fifteen-year-old daughter named Phaedra whose nickname meant "fire" in a language no one had ever heard, and that she was buried in a white dress and her hair was chestnut brown. That didn't tell you anything about a person. I wanted people to know that she'd laughed at her daughter being several inches taller than her, and that her laugh was rare, a little like mine. I wanted them to know that she'd been forty when she died, and maybe a little scatter-brained, and that she'd died loving a man who'd left her pregnant fifteen years ago. That she'd worked two jobs, and never insisted that I work at all. That she'd never slept well, and that her own mother had died with cancer when she was four, so she'd been all the mother she'd ever wanted for herself to me, and more. Not just her physical, statistical details, but the way they'd affected her and influenced her and her daughter.

I was so caught up in memories of my mother that I hadn't noticed Nick rattling on.

"She was fifteen, and Freddy, Jack, the twins, Penelope, and I were her world. Her birthday was in October and she hated it. She was overprotective of her mother, and she hated her father, and, oh, gods, what are we going to tell her mother?" He went on and on, telling me everything there was to tell about Ker. I picked up on her full name – Keres Maria-Anna Cabot. I remembered how my mom hadn't had a middle name, and had passed that down to me.

Suddenly Nick stopped and glanced up. He stood up and snickered, wiping the grass off his jeans. "Here comes Anthony. Good luck and have fun as Mrs. Phaedra Luck."

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. "Oh, gods, hide me."

He snickered some more. "Jack and Gina need some time off as the It couple. While they're picking up the pieces of their shattered relationship, why don't you and Anthony take over for a while?"

"Please don't leave me here."

His face regained a serious expression and said, "Come on, Nina, you're not giving him a chance."

"He said he hated me!"

Nick considered that. "Well, whatever, Nina. I don't want to pressure you into anything." He walked in Anthony's direction, muttering something to him as he passed by. They laughed, and Anthony approached me.

I scowled at him and cocked my head, assessing him and trying to recall if I'd ever felt any attraction to him whatsoever.

Anthony stared at the empty space beside me on the rock. "You're not gonna push me off this time, right, Nina?"

"No, you can sit."

He sat down. "She's dead, you know," he said quietly.

I nodded sadly. "Ker? Yeah, I was there, remember?"

He shook his head. "No, not Ker." In the brief pause between the first sentence and the second, my mind raced for a second, panicking and remembering how the demigods, plus myself, had all assumed that Gina would be able to take care of herself. That had been stupid; we'd known that all luck ran out at one point or another. Jack should've hunted her down, kept her safe somehow. Not just Jack, all of us.

Anthony noticed this. "Nina, are you okay? You look kinda funny."

"What happened to Gina?"

He reddened. "You've gotta swear not to tell Jack. She's at home in Vermont. I drove her to the airport last night."

I did a double-take. "WHAT?"

"Who told you?"

You did, just now, you idiot! "You drove Gina to the airport?" I shrieked.

"Yeah, what did you think happened to her?" His eyes were wide.

"Jeesh, Anthony, I thought she was dead!"

"Gina?" He laughed. "Gina's immortal, in a way. She'll be a very old lady when she dies. Gina's stupid around Jack, and I'm pretty sure she failed Spanish and science last year, and she's got some serious problems, but she'll fight for her life. If anyone ever kills her, she'll go down kicking and screaming, and Gina kicking and screaming is a force to be afraid of."

I relaxed. "Oh. Okay. Thank you."

"She made me swear not to tell Jack," he continued. "I don't like the kid much, but I wish I could tell him she's alright. He's beyond stressed."

I nodded. That much was obvious. "But, wait, if Gina's in Vermont, who died?"

He looked at me, almost looking surprised that I didn't know. "Oh, who died? Bunny. Bunny died. Adrianna and Jack found her dead in the woods, and man, can that girl scream."

**A/N: I told you I was dealing with Bunny.**


	18. The Dating Thing

**A/N: I'm such a grammar freak. I was just rereading chapter 17, and I realized I'd forgotten to add a period after the first sentence, and I made a noise that is indescribable. **

**Multiple apologies will follow soon after this chapter, and if I forget them in the author note, kill me.**

"What?" I stared at him, almost unbelieving.

He nodded. "Yeah, Jack and Adrianna found her in the woods. Poor kids. Neither of them will stop shaking, and Jack's as white as a ghost."

"Well, it's not every day two fifteen-year-olds stumble across a dead body," I said casually. I was kind of… resigned… to Bunny's death. It almost seemed like it had been expected. There was some sorrow floating through me, but nothing compared to my recent recollections of my mother and my shock at Ker's death. I was just so tired, and it was three in the afternoon.

I must've been looking kind of funny again, because Anthony watched me closely, concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Just kind of tired."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No, I'm okay. How're the rest of the demigods doing?"

"I think Adrianna's taking it the worst – she was the only one of us who really liked Bunny all that much. Do you remember how I told you Rose was a moron and no one listened to her?"

I nodded.

"Bunny was kind of like that. She wasn't a moron, exactly, but we didn't like taking orders from her. We just went along with what she said and kept our eyes on her. Now it feels weird, because we should all be really upset, but I think the loss of Bunny was nothing compared to Ker. If it'd been any other day, we'd be pretty torn up at just the prospect of death itself, but with Ker already gone today, Bunny seems like… I don't know."

"Did you know Ker?"

"Not very well, but some. She and I had been at camp together since I was… twelve or so."

"Did you like her?"

He took a deep breath before saying, "Yeah. I liked her."

"Hey Anthony?"

"Yeah?"

I scowled. "You promised you'd explain about that, um, that son of Hermes who fought with us."

Anthony's eyes widened and he nearly fell off the rock. "Thanks for reminding me, Nina. Well, this sucks. I can't believe we let him go."

"Why is he so important? Why was he on our side?"

He grimaced. "Eric. Eric and I were best friends from when we arrived at camp at age ten to when stupid Daphne stole his attention away when I was fifteen or so. I'm glad she did, though. Now she has to deal with an evil best friend and I don't." He sighed. "Poor Daphne. They were really close friends, and then he sided with Persephone and I don't think they've spoken since. I can't believe we let him get away _again._" He looked at me. "Did you see him at all at the battle?"

"No."

"Darn," he muttered. "He's gone now. Probably on his way back to New York." He still looked troubled, like there was something else he was thinking of.

There was silence for a while, before I said, "Hey, Anthony, is Aiko okay?"

He grinned. "Considering the circumstances, she's phenomenal."

I smiled a little. "Who officially… won the battle today?"

"You did."

"Oh." I was somehow unable to take great pride in my victory. I wished no one had had to die. I guess the whole thing turned out different than I imagined it.

"Well," Anthony said, standing up. "It's been nice talking to you, Nina. I think the demigods are headed back to New York. We'll probably get Gina along the way. Senka and Reed will probably insist on coming, but I'm not sure Nick will let them do that. I'll see you around, okay?"

He turned around, and I was shocked – almost indignant, cheated – that he hadn't kissed me or asked me to marry him (yeah, right; we're seventeen) or anything else dramatic and over-the-top that I'd had horrified visions about. So then I was mad about being cheated, and then mad that I even cared.

"Hey, Anthony, wait," I said. I was going to kill myself for this. Actually, Aiko would probably punch me in the face before I had a chance to do anything.

He turned back around and cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"I'll try the dating thing with you, okay? I'll _try._" The "dating thing." _Smooth, Nina. You're even more hopeless than he is._

He grinned. "You're serious?"

No, Anthony, I'm stringing you along because I don't have enough on my plate. I grinned back. "Yeah, I'm serious. Don't make me regret this, Luck."

"You won't, Kincaid."

**Nick POV**

Rose and Aiko weren't quite as excited about the twenty bucks coming to them as Maia and Myrtle had been.

"We saw this coming," Rose explained.

"Isolde," Aiko snorted. "Isolde and Anthony didn't have a chance."

Nina and Anthony were drastically different from Jack and Gina – they kept their distance from each other, probably trying not to kill Aiko. Jack and Gina had been all over each other. Jack stared at them, looking lost and lonely. At least he was over the shock of, uh… finding Bunny. Or at least somewhat. His face was still paper-white.

The loss of Ker still hung fresh in camp, and Adrianna was, for once, not composed and together. Penelope was silent, still gripping her sword as if she was still in the clearing prepared to kill Reed. Her knuckles were white.

Nina coughed, trying to break the silence.

"Are we going back to New York or not?" she asked.

"We? Who's we?" Penelope snapped.

Anthony glanced at Nina, but she shook her head. "Penelope, I want to go back to the city with you guys."

"I wonder why," Camille muttered, smiling a little.

"Please don't start acting all couple-ish," Cam begged. "You know I can't stand romance. I'm on couple vacation, thanks to Gina."

Jack glared at her. Then he turned to Nina. "Well, I don't really want to go back just yet. I think we should wait awhile."

Nina looked at Anthony. "Anthony, you have to tell him."

He shook his head.

"Anthony, you've got to."

Anthony grimaced.

"Anthony, pretty please? You know it's going to kill him if you don't."

Jack stared at her. "What?"

"Don't tell him, Nina."

"Anthony, he deserves to know. You don't have to say where she is, just that she's okay."

"What?" Jack looked like he was going to explode.

Nina glared at Anthony.

"_You _tell him," he replied.

Nina exhaled. "Jack, Gina's actually closer to Vermo- oh, hell. New York. Gina's actually closer to _New York_ than Montana."

"Nice going, genius," Anthony muttered.

Nina grinned. "Sorry. It really was an accident, you know."

Jack's eyes were huge, and he clearly wasn't going to react anytime soon, so Anthony turned to the rest of us. "People, I think we can officially go home."

**A/N: Well, I've been pretty dissatisfied with the quality of my writing lately. I've been rushing to finish this, because the narrators for book 3 are, like I say in almost every author note, ****total epicsauce.**** I want guesses as to who they are, but not from Dogger, because she's about three steps ahead of everyone else. (Did you expect us to actually discuss **_**math **_**in math class?)**

**If any of you have ever read **_**The Outsiders, **_**do you remember Paul Holden, the blond guy Darry fought at the rumble? Anthony and Eric's relationship is lightly based on that. Lightly. Anthony is Darry :D And yes, to answer your question, Reed Winston is kind of named after Dally Winston. I love you, Dally. **

**Apologies-**

**I'm sorry, I really did like Ker.**

**I'm sorry Nina's affection for Anthony seemed sudden and whorish. And I'm not even going to go into this whole "stealing Anthony from Jack" delusion, Dogger, I'm just not.**

**I'm not all that sorry that I killed Bunny.**


	19. Epilogue

**A/N: So this is maybe the epilogue.**

**Four days later: So this is definitely the epilogue.**

**Nina POV**

Of course, Anthony had to tell Jack how Gina got to Vermont, since we were in the middle of nowhere, she couldn't drive, and there was no way she was walking until she stumbled across an airport. And Anthony had given Bunny back her keys while Jack was _right there. _

_I'm dating an idiot, _I mused to myself, rolling my eyes.

As soon as Jack figured out that Anthony had let Gina leave us and not said a word, he screamed, "Are you insane?", grabbed Anthony by the sides (I seriously doubt he could reach Anthony's shoulders if he tried), and actually shook him in the way Adrianna shook people when they did something stupid.

"Alright, look, kid," Anthony snapped. "She asked me to take her. What was I supposed to do, pin her down and gag her? She would've taken the car by herself if I didn't drive her, and did you really want her to total Bunny's car _and _get herself killed? And I never liked you much anyway, so I wasn't gonna keep her here for your sake. She wanted out, and she deserves that much at least."

"Holy crap, Anthony doesn't like someone," Aiko whispered loudly to Rose. Rose grinned.

"Not helping, Aiko."

"Oh, come on, Anthony," Rose chided. "You like everyone."

"Yeah, well, I don't like him. He's got a trail of fangirls and not only does he not work for it, he doesn't even _notice_! Do you know how many nights I've had to lie in bed listening Myrtle and Maia fawn over you? And Katy, Rose, you two drove me nuts! Bonnie's the only one of you not half in love with the guy, and she's _eight._ And he doesn't even notice!"

Katy's cheeks were on fire, but Rose just raised an eyebrow. "Dude. Katy never says a word about Jack, you know that. She's still dating Troy, remember?"

Anthony shook his head angrily. "You know what, kid? I'm just sick and tired of you being _amazing _just because of who your daddy is or because your girlfriend will stab anyone who doesn't like you. You know what? You're not Percy Jackson. You're not Annabeth Chase. You're not the hero your dad was, or your mom, either, and you probably never will be."

"Oh would you please _lay off_?" Adrianna snapped. "We _know _he's not Percy Jackson, but maybe you can, like, maybe give him a little bit of a chance? Forgive him for not having a world to save right now. Forgive him for the fact that Kronos isn't trying to kill him and everyone he loves. Forgive him if his girlfriend is a whore, and now she's off in Vermont and everyone is blaming _me _for it!"

Jack grinned and looked at Anthony. "Dude, you're gonna make Adrianna cry. Do you know how hard that is?"

"Shut up!" Adrianna turned on him, but there were tears leaking out of her eyes already. "I've lost my older sister, and add Ker to that, and I just want to go home and have dinner with my mom, because I haven't seen her for weeks."

Yeah, I want to have dinner with my mom too, Adrianna, but she's buried in a cemetery in California. I felt tears pricking my eyes, and of course Anthony immediately picked up on that.

"Are you okay, Nina?" he asked anxiously.

I nodded. "I'm okay. Can we go back to New York now? And please let Senka and Reed come."

"We all know Eric will be there by the time we get back," Anthony said quietly. Jack nodded, kicking a rock.

Surprisingly, it was Katy, not Jack, who said, "Anthony, can we please just take a little detour up to-"

He cut her off. "Leave her alone, Kate. She'll be back in no time."

Katy closed her mouth, looking doubtful.

xxx

"So Anthony's the only one with a real license?" Nick asked incredulously.

Aiko and I nodded sullenly.

"I have a learner's permit," Aiko admitted.

"I can try to drive," Senka offered. "It wouldn't be legal, though."

"Can we stop by Olympus on the way there?" Jack asked, unzipping one of Katy's enormous suitcases. Rose had already checked them each twice.

"Why?" Rose asked, loading her own luggage into the back of Bunny's car.

Jack gritted his teeth. "I want to bash your mother's head in."

Aiko laughed. "Like we haven't heard _that _one before."

"Aphrodite didn't have shit to do with it," Adrianna called, lugging Katy's other huge suitcase behind her. Katy was walking comfortably with a backpack.

"You know she's been pushing you and Gina at each other since day one," Katy agreed.

"I can't believe you guys are talking about this," Penelope snapped. "Doesn't it occur to you that we just lost to _her_?" She jabbed a thumb in my direction.

"Watch it, Penn," Camille snapped.

Penelope's face turned bright red, more from anger than anything else, and she opened her mouth to say something, but then she shut it quickly and climbed in the car.

Reed stared at the ground and Senka's face darkened.

I poked my head inside the car and glanced around. "_How _did you all get over here in this?"

"Anthony rode in a suitcase," Rose muttered.

I grinned. "Touching, Anthony, just touching. I'm so flattered."

"Don't let it get to your head," he said, shutting the back door of the car. "Alright, everybody in."

The way it ended up, I had the front seat to myself, since I was dating the driver, and if a policeman pulled us over and glanced in Anthony's window, we didn't want him to see three girls happily sitting in the front seat. Everyone else, on the other hand, was squished into six seats. Reed and Senka sat on the floor. Senka smashed into something every time Anthony parked. Nick thought that was hilarious, and Camille and Camryn were back up to what Anthony called "their old tricks," twittering little flirtatious quips at Reed and batting their eyelashes, then laughing at the look on Senka's face.

When we finally got to New York, Senka and Reed stared out the window.

"I've never been out of camp," Reed admitted.

"Much less to New York City," Senka agreed.

Adrianna was shocked. "How old are you two?"

"Seventeen," Reed and Senka said together, blinking at the astonished redhead innocently.

"Everyone should see the city at least once in their life," Adrianna said, staring out the window right along with them. "You guys are lucky we came when we did…"

I glanced quickly at Anthony. Yeah, we were lucky they'd come, alright.

And then the world finally stopped trying to kill us, for about a week.

**A/N: I hated that ending but I needed to have the foreshadowing in there.**

**Once again, thank you to my adoring fans and I'm very sorry that HTTRI A. had a crappy title and B. was like fifteen chapters shorter than HMPWI. I much prefer HMPWI, though I absolutely worship Anthony and Nina. **

**On to book 3, which is basically a continuation of HTTRI with different narrators and will NOT have a totally stupid title, hopefully. Let's just say that HTTRI and BOOK3 are much more connected than HMPWI and HTTRI. I think this series'll end at three books, but I'm really going to miss the characters. **

**Maybe I should call Book 3 "I Accidentally Named the Villain After My Best Friend." Sorry, Eric. **

**I should probably make a dedication. Dedications are fun to think out, because there are so many people to thank.**

**I'd like to dedicate this to the many people who have continued reading throughout thick and thin, and Dogger and Freddy and Bridget, my friends who read my stories and don't think I'm an uber-nerd. And most of all to Rick Riordan, for being such a creative genius – and Jack, the kid from my math class who went to the nurse during homework check and set the ball rolling for everything in HMPWI and HTTRI. **

**Also thanks to Vanessa, an online friend whose name I still use for when I'm intentionally making Mary-Sues who just **_**infuriate**_** the main character. You're a saint (pun intended, Freddy), and your writing inspired my own. **

**But yeah, mostly to Jack, because if he did his homework, I wouldn't be typing this right now.**


End file.
